In the Blink of an Eye
by Kainos Ktisis
Summary: In the blink of an eye, you can lose yourself completely. Truth is what you make it; reality is everything else. Cloti. Rewrite of the original game in an AU kind of way.
1. Prologue

**EDIT 9/14/09:** I changed the prologue a bit because I thought the original one didn't do what I wanted it to do. I like this one better because it has a sort of metafictional undertone to it. And yes, that would be the former English major in me speaking. A normal update should be following some time soon.

**A/N:** Hello dearies. And so I make my return with a rather ambitious project. I suppose I'd consider this a quasi-rewrite of the Final Fantasy 7 game with many many changes. I have great aspirations for this one; then again, so did I with my other ones too. Again, just to reiterate, I don't believe in giving up on my fics, but I do believe in long absences, for which I apologize profusely. In the meantime, enjoy another concoction of the strange workings of my mind.

**Disclaimer**: This applies to this whole story. Final Fantasy 7 and all related materials are property of Square Enix.

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Prologue**

**.**

**.**

**.**

This is more than a game I play.

There are no restarts when we mess up.

There is no clear path or destination we must reach.

There is no evil we must face but ourselves.

There is no assurance that the world revolves around our actions.

There is no world for us to be the heroes of.

Life is not a movie made for us.

.

.

.

_Blink_.

Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing here?

_Blink_.

Stop. Don't panic. Think this through. My name. What's my name?

_Blink._

Cl—

_Blink._

Zack. Zack Fair. My name is Zack Fair. What do I do?

_Blink_.

SOLDIER. I'm a member of SOLDIER, first-class.

_Blink._

No. I _was_ a member of SOLDIER. I'm not part of SOLDIER anymore. I no longer have any affiliation with Shinra. So what am I?

_Blink_.

A mercenary. I'm a mercenary. I'm a mercenary who's being hunted down by Shinra. Where am I now?

_Blink._

Avalanche. I'm working for a resistance group called Avalanche. I blacked out? I don't know. Don't remember.

_Blink._

Doesn't matter. Just remember. Remember who you are. I am Zack Fair, ex-SOLDIER, a mercenary. This is who I am.

_Blink_.

Remember.


	2. Changing of Times

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter One**

One more block.

The woman pulled her hood further down so that the dark fabric shaded her eyes from the gaze of others. She walked hurriedly, much in the same fashion as everyone else. One learns quickly that inconspicuousness is not simply a suggestion, but a law. It is a law that states that if you want to survive, you learn to blend in with others and walk as they do.

You walk quickly, but not so quickly that people think you are in more of a hurry than they are. You walk with your eyes downcast, yet always with the full awareness that anything can happen to any body at any time. You walk with an unassuming posture yet with a confidence in your countenance that gives fair warning that any who dare attack you will face severe consequences. You walk with a clear destination in mind, or you don't walk at all.

These are the unspoken rules, the precious law engrained in every person who wishes to survive the slums of Midgar.

The woman tugged the edges of her cloak tighter around her body. Considering the sorry state of the atmosphere due to the smog and pollution, the slums were oddly cold. Then again, she supposed it made sense. It wasn't as if they had the benefit of enjoying the warmth of the sun here beneath the Plate. She couldn't help but wonder if this was what the rest of the world would feel like if the sun died. Of course, nobody would survive long enough to know if such a disaster should ever occur.

She shook away her morbid thoughts and returned her full attention to surreptitiously surveying her surroundings. Regardless of how familiar one is with a certain path, it is never wise to be side-tracked by one's thoughts for too long. It could mean the difference between survival and becoming the next victim of Midgar's degenerate slums.

Ten feet. One more glance around. Five, four, three, two, one. She arrived at her destination: a discrete, shabby building in the middle of a discrete, shabby street with—had they been on—old flickering neon lights that marked the locale as the Seventh Heaven.

She knocked twice. Pause. Once. Pause. Thrice.

The sound of bolts unfastening and chains rasping against their rusted resting place resounded from the other side of the door. It creaked open slowly, only enough for her to squeeze through the crack, before slamming shut again, the immediate cacophony of metal grating against metal assaulting her nerves.

"Welcome back, Tifa," greeted the man on duty at the door.

"Thanks Biggs. Barret downstairs?"

"Yup. With the new guy."

"How'd it all go today?"

Biggs shrugged. "Alright, I suppose. New guy's a killer fighter, but he seems a little messed up upstairs, if you know what I mean. Not all that stable. Everything was going as planned and then suddenly the guy just blacks out when we're making our getaway. Barret had to carry him back. Don't know if he's even awake yet. Barret's pretty pissed off right now though. I'd keep clear if I were you."

She smiled. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind."

"No problem. Where the hell is Wedge, by the way? He's supposed to be on watch next. Do you mind telling him to get his fat ass over here if you happen to see him?"

"Mmhm."

The woman known as Tifa Lockhart wove her way through the cluttered tables and chairs to the pinball machine parked against the east wall of the restaurant. She pushed a switch nestled along the side of the machine and stood still as the hidden elevator groaned its way downstairs.

Under normal circumstances, all these tables and chairs would have been filled with customers hoping to forget themselves with alcohol in a world that would have rejoiced without their existence. Under normal circumstances, she would have been the relatively successful owner and bartender of the Seventh Heaven, serving drinks and punches to anyone needing a shot of something hard or stupid enough to address her with a lewd remark, respectively. If she had had it her way, the doors would still be open for business. However, with Shinra's sudden tightening of security—or so they call it—in the slums, it was simply too dangerous to do so.

She'd voiced her concern that it would look suspicious if they closed their doors in response to the new order, but Barret Wallace, the leader of the resistance faction known as Avalanche, had insisted. He assured her that not only were the known resistance hideouts closed for business, almost every other vendor had as well. Nobody wanted to have any Shinra troops positioned in their stores twenty-four seven, especially when the slightest breath of disproval from employees and or customers alike could land them in serious trouble.

A soft click and the sudden absence of the mechanical hum alerted her to the fact that the elevator had stopped. She stepped off the mechanism and eyed the cluttered hideout with disdain. She had always been something of a neat freak, and the disorganized state of the room did not sit well with her nature. However, Barret had adamantly refused to let her clean up the mess. He claimed that he wouldn't be able to find anything if she organized everything.

"Barret? I'm back."

"In the back room, Tifa," returned the gruff voice that unmistakably belonged to Barret. From the sound of it, Biggs hadn't been joking when he said that he wasn't in a particularly good mood. Then again, the man was rarely ever in a good mood.

She wondered briefly if that was where the "new guy," as Biggs had dubbed him, resided. She had been gone on a mission for a couple of days when she received word that Barret had hired a mercenary. She didn't know how reliable mercenaries were in this day and age—especially considering the fact that Avalanche was not very well off in terms of finance—but the man was apparently an ex-SOLDIER. Any enemy of Shinra was a friend—or at least a temporary ally—in her eyes.

Still, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet this ex-SOLDIER upon hearing Bigg's less than glorifying report of his mental state. The last thing Avalanche needed right now was an insane man.

She could just picture him in her mind's eye. In his thirties, maybe. Battle scars decorating a cruel—or at least harsh—looking face. Cold eyes that had seen enough death to be completely desensitized to the precious value of life. Buzzed head. Stubble-lined chin. Well-built, but not too bulky. SOLDIERS were known for being quick, deadly, and accurate, after all. Rough hands with nails cut to the pink. Scarred knuckles. She rubbed a finger over her own blemished hands. Definitely scarred knuckles.

She knocked on the door and pushed it open when Barret's low, "Come in," ushered her in.

Her eyes remained fixed on Barret as she nodded to him in acknowledgement. "Everything go alright?"

All she received was a grunt in response. She bit back the desire to laugh at the disgruntled giant (she being one of the few people who were not intimidated by Barret's belligerent appearance) and chose instead to turn her eyes upon the other man in the room, the ex-SOLDIER.

All mirth drained from her countenance when her attention landed on him. Mahogany eyes widened and all her assumptions about his appearance flew out the window. If she were a weaker woman, she would have fainted right then and there.

Swallowing thickly, she finally managed to speak. "Long time no see, Cloud."

…

_Blink_.

Cloud? Who's Cloud?

_Blink_.

You're Cloud. No, no, I'm Zack.

_Blink._

Who is she? Why is she calling me Cloud? I know her, don't I?

_Blink._

We grew up together. She lived next door.

_Blink._

No. She grew up with _him_. Not me. I didn't meet her until five years ago.

_Blink._

But that can't be right. I remember standing outside her window when I was a kid. The well. Remember the well.

_Blink._

The promise. I'm not Zack. I'm Cloud. Cloud Strife. Then who's Zack?

_Blink._

There is no Zack. Zack doesn't exist. I'm Cloud.

_Blink._

And who is she?

_Blink._

Tifa. Her name is Tifa Lockhart.

…

"Tifa." Her name felt foreign on his tongue, but also strangely comfortable. He wanted to say her name again and again to re-familiarize himself with the feeling, but he restrained himself from doing so. If nothing else, his years in SOLDIER had taught him a great deal of control. "It's been, what, five years now?"

She eyed him queerly as she echoed him quietly. "Five?"

Was it confusion hidden behind those dark lashes or was it pain? Cloud wasn't certain but he could understand it. After all, that particular incident was likely still a sore subject of her past. "I'm glad you're okay."

Her head tilted slightly to the side, her long cascade of brunette hair shifting behind her as she did so, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "…Yeah. Me too. You've changed."

He shrugged, a sparkle igniting in his intense blue eyes. He could feel a bit of his childhood—_his _childhood?—charm returning to him. "What can I say? I guess it's what SOLDIER does to a man. You've changed too. You look good."

Was that comment genuine or had she detected an undertone of impropriety? She bit her cheek and merely nodded in response. She didn't like the thought that the sweet little boy who had gone off to war so many years ago might have returned the same as any other man—a man who sought only temporal, physical pleasure.

"You know this Spiky-ass, Tifa?" interrupted Barret incredulously.

She nodded, her eyes never leaving the image of the boy—no, he was a man now—she'd never thought she'd ever see ever again. She was, however, infinitely thankful to Barret for his intervention. There was just too much to accept in too short of a time period. That he was standing here, right in front of her eyes; that he had been in SOLDIER and decided to rebel against Shinra; that he was working for Avalanche now; that he'd said the wrong number of years since they'd last seen each other.

"We grew up together. We haven't seen each other in…" She paused, looking down, uncertain about her word choice before finally deciding on a rather ambiguous, "…in a long time."

"Small world," grunted Barret.

Heavy silence thickened the air as Cloud's piercing eyes refused to leave the figure of the girl next door while Tifa's own eyes focused everywhere but on him. Timidity? Highly unlikely. She was, when it boiled down to it, a barmaid, and the first thing she lost when she arrived in Midgar was any trace of the small town attitude that had she grown up with.

"Tifa!" A trill voice shattered the tension, and a smile of relief and pure joy spread across the bartender's face as a little purple mass of pudgy arms and legs shot into the room.

"Hello to you too, Marlene," laughed Tifa as a four year old toddler pummeled into her arms. "Have you been a good girl and listening to Daddy?"

"Uh-huh. Daddy even gave me a piece of candy today because I've been so good."

Tifa ruffled the little girl's hair and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "That's my girl."

Marlene giggled uncontrollably as little girls are wont to do, completely oblivious to the moment of apprehension that she had relieved. "Oh oh, I drew a picture today! Come see!" She grabbed Tifa's hand and pulled her to the door, but stopped short of exiting. Her child's face scrunched up in thought as she turned around to look at Cloud. She let go of TIfa and made her way boldly to stand in front of the ex-SOLDIER. "Mr. Biggs says that you're strange, but I like your hair. It's like a chocobo! You come too!" She shot towards the door, paused to look back, waiting for the adults to follow, before racing down the hall.

Cloud's eyes widened considerably, and for that one moment, Tifa could have believed that he had never left. That they were still together in Nibelheim. That all the years of pain and misery didn't separate them. That they were innocent of the burdens that now weighed so heavily upon their shoulders.

She didn't know what came over her, and maybe it was the delayed response to finding that her childhood friend was really standing next to her, but she couldn't resist the urge to grab his hand and pull him out the door. "Come on, you heard the girl. Out we go, Mr. Chocobo-head!"

"Tifa!" came the surprised reprimand of Barret.

She looked at him with sparkling eyes. "We can't be disappointing Marlene, now can we?"

With that, she finally managed to drag a shocked Cloud out of the room to follow Marlene down the hall. She hummed happily to herself, momentarily forgetting about all the anguish it had taken for her to get to this point.

"…You…"

They stopped and Tifa turned to look into his eyes. Whoever said that a person's eyes are a gateway to his soul never met Cloud Strife. When she looked into his eyes, all she saw was intensity, an unnatural glow that marked him as a member of SOLDIER. She could see nothing of what he thought, what he felt. Nothing.

And then she remembered that he was no longer the little boy who lived next door, and she was no longer the little girl who wanted nothing more than for her own real-life hero to come and rescue her. It was sobering enough a thought that she released his hand, almost as if their physical touch would erase the reality of their past.

"…You…Barret…" He was struggling to say something, and she had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't like whatever he wanted to say. "Is Marlene…is she your daughter? You and Barret, I mean."

Tifa slapped him before she even realized it.

A part of her wanted to apologize, to say that she didn't know what had come over her, which was true, but only partially so. With all honesty, his concern degraded her. How could he even think for a second that she had had a child with another man? She stopped herself. She shouldn't be thinking that. It's not as if she'd ever entertained any romantic thoughts about him before. There was no reason to start now. They'd only just met again. For all purposes, he was a total stranger who shared the same name as a boy she used to play with when she was a child.

She took a breath to steady herself. "I'm sorry about slapping you. That was completely out of line. It's just strange to think—Look. Barret's like an overprotective father and brother rolled into one to me. It's just disturbing for someone to suggest that Marlene is our daughter, regardless of how much she is like a daughter to me. And…" She paused. "You know how old I am. If Marlene was my daughter, I would have had been pregnant with her when I was fifteen. The fact that you even thought I would have had a child at this age…it hurts."

She wanted to stare him down and see what that endless abyss that posed as his eyes held as a response, but she realized too late that his eyes were more powerful than hers. The intensity of his eyes enthralled her and trapped her yet it was that same intensity that made her want to look away.

"What happened to you all these years?" she murmured, her brows furrowed in perplexity. "Why don't I know you anymore?"

…

_Blink._

Why don't you know me? Why don't I know myself?

_Blink._

No, I know who I am. But more importantly, I know you.

_Blink_.

I remember a childhood with you. I remember a world of naivety.

_Blink._

Naivety? No, it was a world of innocence.

_Blink_.

What is innocence? Innocence is lost.

_Blink._

What happened to my innocence? What happened to yours?

_Blink_.

Innocence no longer exists.

_Blink._

Why don't you know me? I don't know.

_Blink._

Why don't you tell me?

…

"We've both changed," Cloud responded coolly, his eyes surveying her body once to emphasize his point. "That's what happens when time passes by. People change."

"I'm not sure I like this change."

"Well, this is who I am. It's not as if I can just change myself on cue."

She shook her head. "No, I suppose not."

A small frown graced her features, and he had the sudden irrepressible feeling that she should never have to frown. Along with it came an unbidden guilt knowing that he was the cause of her disappointment.

"Hey Tif. Duty calls." It was Biggs. He approached them slowly, his gaze shifting between the two.

"What?" her reply terse.

"Not sure, but Barret wants us in the meeting room pronto." She nodded and broke the staring contest with Cloud. "You too, new guy."

Cloud's nod was barely perceptible as he watched Tifa make her way down the hall. He followed her after a moment's pause, but stopped at Biggs' voice.

"Hey you." Cloud motioned to himself. "Yeah, you. I don't know what happened just now or even what happened in the past between you two, but you see us all here? We're family. You hurt her, and I swear I won't let you get away with it."

"You can't hurt me."

"Maybe. But that sure as hell doesn't mean I won't try."

Cloud considered his warning briefly before nodding in response. Biggs was no threat to him, but he could appreciate his valor.

"I'm Biggs, by the way." He struck out his hand.

Cloud fully turned to face the dark-haired man and took him in. There was nothing significant about either his appearance or his abilities, but he had heart. That was cause enough for respect. He took the proffered hand and gripped it firmly. "Cloud."


	3. Abort Train

**A/N**: I think I lied. This isn't gonna be a novelization as much as i thought it would be. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm simply borrowing the beginning and major plot devices, but for the most part, I have a feeling this is going to diverge greatly from the game. I love artistic freedom.

Hehehe...anyway, thank you all for reading and I will be much indebted if you would be so inclined to leave a review. Really. I don't mean to rant and I don't mean to be rude, but when you have more people favorite-ing your story than you have reviews...maybe it's just me, but there's something funny about that picture. Not to say that I'm not honored when you do put my stories on your favorites' list, but it'd be nice to get a little verbal feedback too.

Thanks a bunches!

**EDIT**: So...A day has passed and looking back on the little note above, I find that I was quite childish. I'm leaving it up there because that is what I genuinely feel, but I think I must also apologize because I know I'm not the most faithful reviewer either and I would not like to be branded as hypocritical, even if it were only in my own heart. So yeah. That's all. Thanks for reading my rambles.

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Two**

The interminable rattle of the train threatened to shake his brain into oblivion.

Regardless of how technologically advanced Midgar was, the utter lack of comfort in its transportation system completely and wholly undermined its endeavor for scientific prowess among the known world.

Still, the train system—absent of the horrendous shaking—was a thing to be marveled. The route spiraled several times around the core of Midgar, with each consecutive circuit marking the sign of one's wealth. The higher you lived when measured against the circuit, the wealthier you were. The system made sense considering the layout of the city itself. Those who lived near the bottom of the route were those who lived underneath the plate. Those who lived higher up were those who lived on the plate. Simple as that.

"Why don't you sit your spiky butt down, fool? Acting all like you something else. What's your story anyway?"

Cloud turned to face the big black man. Barret was easily twice his size, but there was just some quality about him that made it difficult for Cloud to take him seriously. "My past is my own. I'm just here for the money."

"Why I oughta—"

Cloud ignored him and opted to stand by Tifa, who was watching a small television screen on the side of the train with fascination. He didn't know why he wanted to be near her. Their last conversation had been all but comfortable. Still, he found himself hovering beside her quietly, studying her with some amusement as her facial expressions changed in accordance with the television.

He was awarded with a brilliant smile when she noticed his presence. "Care to look with me?" When she saw that he wasn't moving, she brought up her fists in a fighting position. "Ah, so I see you've heard about this already." She laughed—a musical laugh that brought back memories of pianos and violins—and dropped her fists. "It's alright. You can come closer to see, you know."

He shrugged and did as she suggested. Apparently the screen she had been watching was a model of the train route in relation to the whole of Midgar. A slender finger pointed to each spot on the map. "That's about where we are right now. That is where we're headed, and that is where the checkpoint should be."

He grunted in acknowledgement. He had to admit; it was all quite amazing.

In order to reinforce the security of the train, each level had a checkpoint. Only those who lived on the level of or above that checkpoint would be allowed to stay on the train. The checkpoint was basically a sensor field that picked up the signals emitted from the train rider's identification card. At least that was Tifa's version of how Jessie, Avalanche's tech specialist, had explained it to her in a severely diluted manner.

In the end however, all it really summed up to was that this was the rich man's method of keeping the poor man away from his perfect world. How very typical.

"Hey," her voice was suddenly soft and shy compared to that when she had been explaining the system. "I'm sorry about yesterday. It's really not my place to say how you've changed when I've changed a lot too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if you don't mind, I'd like to start over." She stuck her hand out. "Tifa Lockhart."

He couldn't help the small smile from creeping to his lips as he took her hand in his. "Cloud Strife."

"Nice to meet you, Cloud."

They shared a smile, and then there was a memory. A time when he had shaken her hand just like this. A promise they'd shared.

He knew he had been holding her hand a little too long to be only friendly, but something within him refused to let go.

…

_Blink_

"_Promise me you'll come back?"_

_Blink_

"_If I'm ever in a bind, you'll come back for me, won't you?"_

_Blink_

"_You didn't come. You promised you'd come."_

…

Snapping fingers appeared before his eyes. He let go quickly as if her touch had burned him and mumbled a soft, "Sorry."

" Are you—" Her question was cut short when a loud blaring cut through the relative peace of the train and an ominous red light bathed the cart in successive pulses. "Checkpoint already? We're five minutes early."

"Sorry guys. We got a problem." The speaker, Jessie, was a young woman in her early twenties with a nest of dirty blond hair tossed up into a loose bun. "I don't know if Shinra's trying to flush us out, but there's a problem with the fake ID's I made for everyone. We gotta get out of here quick."

Barret growled in frustration as he leapt to his feet. "Alright, kiddies. Front of the train. Move it."

Wordlessly, the five members of Avalanche and their hired hand barreled through the cars to the front of the train as they opted to forego discrepancy in favor of speed.

In the midst of their rush, Cloud caught glimpses of the passengers by which they passed. Each car held different groups of people from all stations of life—some were rich, some poor; some dressed sharply, some in rags; some young, some old—but there was one overarching theme throughout it all: grim acceptance that life will never change for the better. It was utterly depressing, yet he couldn't help but wonder whether he should join them in their abyss of sorrow.

He glanced up and saw Tifa and the rest of Avalanche running ahead of him. They were only five—now six—members strong revolting against a corporation that controlled half of the world. Was it foolishness? Maybe, but he knew that they would rather be fools than to give up hope. He saw their determination, their clarity of action, their hope, and suddenly in the depths of his heart he felt that all was not lost.

He shook off the feeling immediately; he would not allow mere emotion to usurp reason. He would only stay as long as they had the money to employ his services.

_And Tifa?_ asked that insidiously curious voice in his head.

Nothing. He had nothing to do with her. She didn't need him. Not anymore….No, she had never needed him. She was and _is_ a fighter.

He grunted when a body collided with his. It took him less than a second to attach an iron grip on the wrist of the man—or rather, pubescent youth—who had run into him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Cloud warned in a low tone. His voice was soft, but filled with promises of hurt should the pickpocket attempt to escape.

The boy squeaked, "S-sorry! Here's your gil. Don't hurt me!"

Cloud snatched the gil back from the boy and released him with a shove. "Get a real job, kid. Stealing gets you nowhere."

The boy quickly shuffled out of the way.

"Cloud, come on!" It was Tifa.

He nodded and followed her into the next car, which also was the furthest up the train passengers could go. The rest of Avalanche was already gathered near the door.

"Take your sweet, sweet time, why don't you?" growled Barret. Cloud shrugged in response. "Cocky son of a bitch. Watch it, else you won't be jumping from this train—I'd be kicking your sorry ass off."

"We're jumping?" Cloud asked, slight surprise registering in his voice.

"How the hell else do you think we'll get off this damn monstrosity?"

_Impressive. That's a big word,_ Cloud almost said aloud. Fortunately, his instincts of self-preservation were stronger than his tendency towards idiocy.

"Jessie."

The tech specialist nodded and quickly overrode the lock on the door manually.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll go first. Watch and learn!" smiled Tifa as she slid the door open. "Never jumped out of a moving train before…" they could hear her mumble as her figure disappeared into the tunnel.

One by one, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge followed her out the door and into the unknown. "Go!" prodded Barret.

Cloud glanced at him. "You don't mind?"

"A leader is always the first to attack and last to retreat. Now hurry your sorry ass up!"

Cloud gave him a barely perceptible nod before leaping into the black.

…

_Blink_.

You never did like the dark.

_Blink_.

Why is that? Why are you afraid?

_Blink._

I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of anything.

_Blink._

Anything but yourself, you mean. You're afraid of yourself.

_Blink_.

Why would I be afraid of myself?

_Blink_.

Why _would_ you be afraid of yourself?

…

He dusted the dirt from the front of his shirt as he surveyed his surroundings. It was dark. If he were a normal person, it would have been difficult to make out anything in the lightless underground. As it was, his sharpened senses picked up nearly everything.

The point at which they had chosen to jump train turned out to be a merging junction, the faint rattling of the receding train still audible in the distance. Dim LED lights flickered on and off from power boxes attached to the cement walls of the tunnel, which curved slightly on either end into morbid blackness. The quiet, underground workings of small critters registered on his heightened hearing as did the rustling of his teammates a couple of yards separate from him.

It was strange to call them that. He'd operated on his own for so many years that he'd forgotten what it felt like to be a small part of a greater end. That foreign sense of belonging was not unwelcome, yet it proved unsettling all the same.

"Anyone dead?" Barret. A smattering of grunts and coughs was his response as they gathered around their leader. "Good. Which way to the reactor?"

Wedge, a man's whose girth was easily equal to his height, gestured to the single path leading south. "Well, not that way. That's where we came from."

Barret shoved him roughly, though for all his strength, not even he could displace the obscenely obese Wedge from his position. "No really? Tell me something I don't know. Jessie?"

The blonde woman shook her head. "Sorry. I'm not picking any signals up at all down here."

"The hell? Didn't you say they use sensor fields to pick up the signals on the IDs? Why can't you just use those?"

"It's not the same type of signals. Besides, the sensor fields are isolated to a certain part of the tunnel. There are no sensors outside of that particular section."

"Damn it. What _can_ you do then?"

The tech specialist shrugged. "It's not impossible to manipulate it so that I get some sort of reception to work out the coordinates on the GPS, but it'll take some time."

"How long?"

"A couple of hours, at least."

"Too long." The big man slammed a fist against the wall, pieces of cement showered down as his reward. "Alright, this is what we're doing. Biggs, Wedge, Jessie: you three take left. Me, Tifa, and Spiky here will take right. Whoever gets there first sets the bomb to go off two hours from now, at 23:00. "

"What if neither of us gets there in time to set the bomb?" asked Biggs.

"Regroup at the Seventh Heaven. But we're not gonna mess this up so get ready for some fireworks boys and girls."

Cloud glanced over at TIfa, who caught his eye with a shrug and smile that said that this was simply Barret's style. He wondered briefly how they—Avalanche—were all still alive. They certainly were not the most organized group he had ever worked for and with a leader who owned all the discerning skills of a moth flying toward a light bulb, they were fortunate to still be in possession of all their limbs. Then again, few armies in the world could match the military precision that SOLDIER boasted, never mind a ragtag bunch of misfits.

The three Avalanche veterans took off down the left side of the tunnel. Tifa would have followed suit if she had not caught eye of Barret staring down the ex-SOLDIER.

"I don't trust you and I don't like you. You follow through exactly as I say and you get your pay. Don't start having no thoughts about joining Shinra again, ya hear?"

"I'll do what I want. I have nothing to do with Shinra now, but that doesn't mean I care anymore for Avalanche or the planet or whatever the hell you're fighting for. I finish this mission, I get my money, and I'm done. Don't try to threaten me. I don't do well with threats."

The two men stood firm, one with barely restrained fury and the other with cold indifference. Tifa sighed. "Testosterone spill, anyone? If you boys haven't already forgotten, we _are_ here on a mission, you know."

Barret snorted. "Course I haven't forgotten. We just coming to an understanding. Spiky?"

After a brief pause, Cloud nodded, and Tifa threw her hands into the air. "Men."

…

Cloud rolled his eyes. For all the racket that Barret was making, they might as well sound the alarm and announce to security with loud speakers that they were the intruders who were crawling through their ventilation system. "Do you not understand the concept of stealth?"

"Of course I know what stealth is. It's just a little hard to do when I'm getting stuck every other foot. Damn gutter! Why the hell we crawling through this thing again?"

"What's that say about your weight?" muttered Cloud.

"You're lucky we're stuck in this hellhole right now."

"Guys, please!" hissed Tifa from behind Barret. "Sound travels."

The suffocating air of the ventilation shaft did nothing to assuage the tension between the two men vying for dominance, nor did it alleviate the throbbing headache steadily forming in Tifa's consciousness. She hated metal. There were too many memories, too many nightmares associated with it. Yet here she was with metal boxing her in on every side, the cold bite of steel inching its way through her nerves. She shivered.

A loud shriek of clattering metal reverberated through the shaft, the piercing discord assailing her eardrums and eliciting a muffled cry from her lips. "What the hell was that?"

Cloud shrugged, at least as much of a shrug as he could manage in the cramped space. "The grate. We're at the end."

The trio exited the shaft with relatively little trouble save Barret, who tumbled out of the small hole in a rather indelicate manner, resulting in a string of curses and a cloud of dirt pillowing up around the fallen giant.

Four concrete slabs of wall greeted them. Wan yellow lighting flickered on and off, and the crackle of electricity filled the room. A fetid mixture of rust, mildew and musk buffeted their noses.

"Where are we?" questioned Tifa.

"Somewhere inside the Plate. It stinks like Shinra up here," muttered Barret under his breath.

Cloud raised an eyebrow at his comment. There was a hatred that ran far deeper than concern for the planet etched into his voice. Something far more primal. Something personal.

Stop. The source of Barret's detestation for Shinra had nothing to do with himself. There was no need to waste energy deliberating about motives. He was here for the money. That was all.

"Which way?"

"Looks like the ladder is the only way in or out. That is, unless you want to crawl through another vent, which I personally would much prefer not to do, thank you very much."

"Up then."

"Down." A pause as Tifa and Barret waited for an explanation. Cloud relented. "There's strong mako radiation coming from below us."

"How you know that?"

"I know."

Barret narrowed his eyes at the smaller man. He despised being corrected nearly as much as he despised Shinra, but he could not deny that this man threatened him in a way nothing had ever done so before. The ex-SOLDIER carried an air about him that spoke loudly of all that he'd seen and survived, far more than any dare imagine. The only other person he had ever met who possessed such a presence was _him_. He nearly shivered at the thought. There are some memories that are best left in the past.

Barret growled. "You better be right about this, Spiky, or I'll have your ass on a plate."


	4. Countdown

**A/N**: Hola, mis amigos. Like I said before, I will be doing some major fleshing out of characters, so I suppose you can consider this a setting-up of fleshing out chapter. Right...

Anyhow, I promise that I will try very, very hard to get some Cloti-ness going sometime soon. However, the beginning of the game doesn't really present many opportunities for me to mess with that aspect, but once I get through all this preliminary set-up stuff, there will definitely be some drama/romance going on.

Reviews, as always, are much appreciated; therefore go, read, enjoy, and review!

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter 3**

There was a time when Shinra had great plans for the future of the planet. There was a time when their concern was genuine, their goals noble, their intentions uncorrupted. It is a tragic story, but one that proves inevitable in light of the ceaseless cycle of time and the static nature of man.

They began as heroes.

They were fated to end as villains.

…

"Are you certain that this is the best course of action, sir?" The speaker was a lanky man, his long black hair accentuating his thinness. A day's worth of stubble lined his chin, and his eyes were dark with weariness.

The man to whom he was speaking faced him from a large office chair situated behind an over-sized desk. He was dressed in a sharp red suit, a head of blonde slicked back to reveal a receding hairline. He laughed mirthlessly. "Am I certain? You should know by now. I do nothing unless I am absolutely positive that the results will be in my favor."

"But sir—"

"Are you doubting me?"

"No, sir, I would never doubt your decisions, but...It's just too dangerous. To go through with this...It's suicide."

"I did not build my empire by ceding to baseless fears. I suggest you stop worrying so much and focus your energies on something more tangible—such as eliminating the source of your concerns."

"Yes, sir." He turned to leave, but paused just before exiting. "Is it really too late?"

The blonde man eyed a picture frame on his desk. "Yes, Reeve. Yes it is."

…

_"Name?"_

_"Aaron."_

_"Got a last name to go with that?"_

_"…Strife."_

_"Age."_

_"Is that really necessary?"_

_"What do you think? Age."_

_"Thirty-eight."_

_"A little old to be joining the military…"_

_Silence._

_"Fine. You want to throw away your life, go for it. Not my business."_

_Silence._

_"Whatever. Hometown."_

_"…Nibelheim."_

_…_

"Cloud." His eyes snapped to meet the concerned gaze of Tifa. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, his focus drawn to a pile of smoking machinery and the bodies of two guards, one of which Barret was in the process of hauling into a darkened crevice. "Don't bother. There'll be more guards after us when these guys don't call in. We need to get to the core of the reactor." Cloud's eyes darted about, watching for signs of any other security of which they would need to dispatch.

"Who made you the leader of this joint?"

"If you want to waste time and energy, go ahead and do it your way. If you want to blow this place up, then we have to get out of here now."

Barret growled in frustration. Corrected twice in the course of one hour. He hated this man for making sense. "Don't get used to calling the shots, Spiky."

"I wouldn't dare," he replied dryly.

"Elevator?" broke in Tifa with an exasperated sigh. The gaze of the two men followed her pointed finger to a large cargo elevator situated in plain view. They nodded. "And they say women are creatures of emotion…Clock's ticking. Let's go."

They entered the elevator and shared a dubious look as the elevator rumbled to some semblance of life and groaned its way upward. The rusted screeching of its cables proved far more alarming than any army Shinra could summon.

"You'd think they'd keep this place up better. It's their goldmine after all," muttered Barret.

"You would think. But that just makes our life easier," replied Tifa. "We're here."

The elevator doors opened with a sickening moan to reveal a haphazard crosshatch of ladders and catwalks, steam blowing up from below them intermittently. Numbered pipes carrying unknown substances boiled overhead. The air was suffocating, humid. It was a wonder anyone could work in conditions such as this.

But they didn't care about that. They had just found the core of the reactor, after all.

Tifa pointed. "Look, over there. A pressure gauge. Should we set up the bomb over there?"

"Yeah, but how we supposed to get to that?"

Cloud walked across the first of many catwalks. "Not by standing around."

The three worked their way up and down numerous ladders, their eyes always focused on the tank with the pressure gauge located at the far end of the cavernous room. Beads of sweat formed on their skin, the unbearable heat sucking the sweet breath of life from their lungs. The clang of boots striking against the metal flooring resonated in their heads and intensified as it echoed off the walls.

Metal. Always metal. She yearned for the days of unpolluted air, for the days filled with the fragrance of a natural spring. Days buried in the heaps of her memories. Could she never return to those bygone days of innocence? She had seen so much evil, done so much evil. Could her conscience ever forgive her?

Metal. She could taste its acrid burn in her mouth.

"We got half an hour to plant that thing and get the hell outta here," panted Barret. "That tank don't look any closer than it was when we first started playing monkey."

"And?"

"And we better find a way to get down there faster than the way we're going else we're gonna go boom along with it."

Cloud frowned. Barret was right. At the rate they were going, they would never make it back out of the reactor room, much less out of reach from the explosion. There was a pipe overhead that stretched across to the far end of the room where the main tank was located, and it certainly looked sturdy enough to hold a person, but only one. "Give me the explosives."

"The hell I will."

"Fine, then do you want to be the one to try and overhand climb the pipe to the other side of the room over who knows how far the floor is from here?"

Barret acquiesced. "Don't fall and take the bomb with you, fool."

"Be careful, Cloud," added Tifa, her eyes shining with a concern that would have been degrading if it had been anyone else.

…

_Blink_.

_Look out! This isn't just any reactor!_

_Blink._

_"Papa? Papa! What happened? Did Sephiroth do this to you?"_

_Blink._

_"Sephiroth, SOLDIER, mako reactors, Shinra, I hate them all!"_

_…_

Cloud held her gaze. How could she still be so encouraging, so optimistic, so untouched by the past? In that moment, he hated her cheerfulness, her perseverance, her refusal to be trampled by life. "I'll be fine," he replied, his tone bitingly cold.

She flinched slightly, pain mirrored in her eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, a ghost of a reaction that lingered on in his mind far longer than it did on her face. She nodded.

He shouldered the explosives like the magazines for a machine gun and wrapped his hands with cloth, taking hold of the pipe easily on his jump and swung his legs upward so that he could cross his ankles at the top of the pipe. Everything else was simple, albeit tedious. In a matter of minutes, he stood before the tank, explosives in hand and ready to send the place to hell.

"Damn it!" Barret's curse reverberated against the cavernous walls and Cloud turned his attention to see that his companions were no longer alone.

A man stood on a catwalk about ten yards away from them, his hands resting lazily in his pant pockets. He was a middle-aged man, thinning blonde hair, golden beard, growing waistline, but he carried a presence about him that screamed wealth, power, and arrogance. Joseph Shinra, the man who owned half the world and controlled close to three-quarters of it, sworn adversary of Avalanche, destroyer of lives, stood completely vulnerable before them, yet they could do nothing.

He chuckled deeply. "What have we here? I must apologize. I can't be expected to know the names of every minor insurrection."

"The name's Avalanche, and you'd better remember it cause it's the last thing you're gonna hear before we blow this place and you in it."

That was his cue. Cloud momentarily shifted his attention from the drama taking place to installing the explosive. 23:00 hours. That was the call.

Twenty-four minutes to get out.

He looked back to his teammates. Would it really be worth it to go down with Shinra if need be?

Twenty-three minutes and fifty seconds.

No. He reached to remove the bomb. Barret may be willing to give his life for this cause, but he wasn't. He was just a mercenary. He had pledged no allegiance to them, signed no contract to sell his soul to them. He would not throw away his life here.

Twenty-three minutes and seventeen seconds.

Tifa. He knew that she wouldn't hesitate to press that button and start the timer. How could he disappoint her? But then again, how could he let sacrifice her life so easily? Even better, why could he not let her go?

He had been a member of SOLDIER. He'd spent so many years taking orders. Why should he die taking an order? Shinra. Cloud didn't know if he knew he was there with the bomb, but he could see his smug countenance even from this distance.

Twenty-two minutes and thirty seconds.

…

_He ducked behind the barricade, a thick shower of overturned soil pelting their company regardless of the sandbags erected to protect them from the explosions. His breathing was heavy, the toxic air of explosives and spilt blood flooding his lungs. A scream ripped from the throat of a dead man not ten feet away from him. The scream mingled with the persistent ringing in his head, the one that had not stopped since he took his first step onto the battlefield._

_So this was war._

_What day was it today? Wednesday? That meant that it had only been eleven days and thirteen hours since he'd joined the war. It felt like it had been far longer than eleven days and thirteen hours._

_What were they fighting for? He knew what he was fighting for. He was fighting his friends, his family. He was fighting for a life of peace. But what about them? What were they fighting for? What right did they have to sacrifice so many lives? What right did they have to ravage the countryside, to destroy families? _

_He knew what it was that they craved. Power. It was the same reason for every war. Certainly, some were better concealed than others, but in the end, war was simply a power struggle, a massive game of tug-of-war. The greatest losers were not those who lost the war, but all those who fought in it, the innocents whose blood had to be shed. Everyday people like him._

_A deep breath before he turned to assault the opposition with a volley of gunfire. He had good aim, probably one of the reasons he had survived thus far. They placed all the so-called sharpshooters under special protection, a barrier that lasted a couple of minutes at a time. It was technology at its best; or rather, they called it magic. _

_Apparently the substance needed to cast such a barrier—mako, they called it—was condensed into a small orb called materia. All one needed to do to cast the spell was to insert the materia into a slot of their weapon or armor. They were still in the process of refining the materia so that there would be no ill side-effects; hence, only the trained elite had access to such power._

_Still, because the technology was still undergoing research, the barrier's strength was limited. It would soften the blow, but everyone knew that a shot to the head would kill just the same as it would outside the barrier._

_ "Watch it!"_

_He pulled back quickly, the sick thud of a bullet burying itself in the sandbag beside him reminding him that every second alive was a blessing. He tried to not think about how the thud of the bullet piercing the sandbag sounded exactly the same as that of a bullet hitting a man._

_He turned to the man who had called out the warning. He was young—early twenties—and possessed a vibrancy of life about him that most lost the moment they engaged in battle. His face was blackened with dirt and smoke like everyone else, but his smile was genuine, his eyes unguarded, naive. Must be a newbie. _

_ He couldn't help laughing at the irony. Eleven days and thirteen hours was enough to make him a veteran._

_"Thank you."_

_The younger man nodded, his blue eyes twinkling. "No problem. Brothers in arms, right?"_

_He nodded. The man was definitely new._

_"What's your name?"_

_"Strife."_

_He laughed. "No man, I mean your first name."_

_"Aaron."_

_"Alright. Nice to meet you Aaron."_

_"You?"_

_"Shane."_

_"I meant your last name."_

_Shane looked at him strangely. "Damn. This whole military thing of last name calling sure got to you quick. Last name's Ryan, but don't call me that. There's too many people who'd respond to Ryan as a first name. No need to add me to the list cause of my last."_

_Aaron nodded, watching the undulation of their line with morbid fascination. Men rising and men dying. How many families would be left without a father, a brother, a son after today's battle?_

_"Not much of a talker are you?"_

_"It's a war. I'd rather not talk myself to death."_

_"Loosen up a bit. Tense will only get you killed faster."_

_"How long have you been on the battlefield, kid?"_

_Shane smirked. "How long have _you_ been fighting?"_

_"Eleven days and thirteen hours." How foolish. It sounded prideful even in his own ears. Pride for surviving eleven days and thirteen hours. Foolish._

_"Eleven days and thirteen hours, huh? You keep a tight count. The longer you been out, the less you keep track. Helps the time go by faster. Me? I'm thinking probably a little over a year—though, if you mean this particular site, then only a day. Just transferred in from the southeast line."_

_The southeast line. He'd survived being in the southeast line for a year. There was a reason they called that place Death Row. But here he was. Transferred in from the southeast line. Damn._

_Shane shrugged. "Like I said, people need to relax. The more afraid you are of dying, the more likely it'll happen. 'Sides, if you're gonna die, you're gonna die. Minus as well go down laughing."_

_The two fell silent as Aaron mulled over his words, not quite ready to accept them. How can you be on guard if you're laughing your ass off?_

_"Captain, you're needed on the west side."_

_Shane clicked his tongue. "Duty calls. Alright, well nice talking to you, Aaron. See ya later if you survive to make that number twelve days."_

_…_

Tifa was tense, ready to strike at any moment. Her fists hung loosely by her side, her feet in position to either attack or retreat. She knew that a good fighter wasn't only one who knew when to attack, but also one who recognizes a losing battle when she sees one. There's greater profit in surviving a momentary loss than to die for nothing. The choice is always one of value. Is it more valuable to die now or die later? There is never any suggestion of survival, only always a matter of timing. When to strike, when to retreat, and when to die.

She glanced at her watch. 22:39. Twenty-one minutes for them to make their getaway. But if Shinra didn't know about the bomb…they could stall him for twenty minutes and then boom. Value, value, value. Was it worth it? They'd get the same result of blowing up the reactor, only they'd be blown up along with it. Not only them, but Shinra too.

Would Cloud set the bomb? She hoped that he would.

Still, it was strange. She had almost hoped for their nemesis to look evil so that she would have more reasons to hate him. As it was, Shinra played well the part of a rich bastard, but nothing more. His, however worthless it was, was a life too. Did she really have a right to determine that he should die? Did anyone have that right?

"Ah, how very unfortunate. It's such a waste of fireworks to get rid of the likes of you."

Yes, she decided. They had the right, if only when dealing with people like him. Now if only she knew whether Cloud believed the same.

…

His hand was steady as he clicked the little red button, though his mind could not quite grasp why he was going through with the madness. Twenty-one minutes. At least he had nothing in the world to leave behind.

…

"Yes, unfortunate indeed that I don't have the time to entertain you all." His eyes were sharp, calculating, and when they landed on him, Cloud found himself threatened despite himself. "You were a member of SOLDIER before, were you not?"

Cloud stood and dusted his shirt. "Yes. First-class."

Shinra nodded, a thoughtful look flickering across his face. "Of course. Such irony."

"The hell are you going on about?" growled Barret.

"Nothing that you need to be concerned about. Well, now, I must take my leave, but I do have a friend who may be able to keep you all company. Good day."

Barret would have protested, but a menacing mechanical hum followed by the appearance of a large beast of a robot clunking its way down the catwalk that he and Tifa occupied distracted him from his murderous thoughts. Shinra exited with a smirk.

Cloud turned to shut off the timer on the explosive, but Barret shouted, "No! Leave it. We'll fry this hulking thing and then make a beeline out of here."

"Now would be a good time to be getting back, Cloud," added Tifa rather needlessly.

He struggled for only a moment before ceding to their wishes. Twenty-one minutes should be plenty of time to take care of the monster of a machine. He glanced at the timer. Make that twenty.


	5. Deja Vu

**A/N:** I'm done with finals!! Muahahah!! Ah...it feels good to be free. Too bad I still have summer school to suffer through, but hey, that's life. Anyhow, here's the next chapter. I'll be taking more and more liberties with the original plot as I go, so know that ahead of time. And me being the Cloti trucker that I am will use every opportunity that presents itself to shape their relationship in a romantic way. Yay.

Alrighty, well, please do leave a review and that shall be all. Peace out.

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Four**

_Duck, jab, slide, punch, dodge, punch, parry, kick._

_Each movement was carefully measured and strategically placed. It was a game, really, an elaborate game of rock, paper, scissors—granted, with consequences reaching far beyond a simple victory or a loss—but nonetheless a game. It was a game that demanded full immersion, full focus, full strength. Anything less was simply unacceptable._

_A heavy kick to his stomach had him reeling back in pain. He had seen the blow coming, but fatigue prevented a satisfactory reaction time. He wanted nothing less than to double over and gasp for air, but he had to keep fighting. On the battlefield, nobody cares how tired you were or how little sleep you've gotten or how you're running on the quickly evaporating fumes of adrenaline; there is only carnage. There is only endless fighting. There is only survival._

_He pulled his body to a side as a punch flew past him, barely missing his left cheek. He retaliated by bringing down his elbow on the exposed back on his opponent, only to realize too late that he had fallen into a trap. His elbow met nothing but thin air as he felt his legs being swept from underneath him. He fell forward into a roll and back onto his feet._

_Frustration marred his otherwise handsome features. He knew that he was at somewhat of a disadvantage in that he was a weapons' expert, not a hand-to-hand combatant, but that was no excuse for failure. _

_Focus. He just needed to focus. Weaknesses. What weaknesses were there? Everyone's fighting style had some sort of weakness, and he did not believe that this man would be any different. He watched his stance assiduously, probing with his eyes any defect in positioning, any flaw in technique. He had to admit, however, that his opponent's technique was beyond excellent—it was impeccable. Feet positioned with the dominant staggered slightly in the back. Arms up protecting his vital organs and hands clenched into fists that were not too tight. He was relaxed enough so that his reflexes would be sharp, yet tense enough to unpack a coil of power in a moment's notice._

_Then he saw it, the reward for his careful examination: weakness. He didn't know why, but his opponent favored his right shoulder. It was slight, but enough to debilitate him for that slight fraction of a second. Go for the shoulder._

_He charged with a series of attacks that forced his opponent to block with his right arm. His opponent tried to counter-attack, but the pain in his shoulder delayed any appropriate counter measures. He was done._

_A knee to the stomach and a punch to the head. Blood splattered on his face, but he did not even flinch. It wasn't his own blood, therefore it didn't matter. Survive. That's all he had to do, and he had done it._

_Clapping. A single pair of hands colliding together again and again, the sound of it thunderously loud against the backdrop of the heavy panting. "Congratulations, son. You've just made it into SOLDIER."_

_He straightened his stance, not casting even a glance at his fallen opponent, as his eyes stared straight forward at the officiator. "Thank you, sir!"_

"_Private Zack Fair, your rank will henceforth be SOLDIER, First-class. Get yourself cleaned up and you will be briefed on your first mission in two hours. Understood?"_

"_Yes, sir!"_

_The officiator nodded. "Dismissed."_

_He turned to leave, but Zack's hesitant voice brought his attention back to the newly graduated SOLDIER. "Sir?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_What happens to him?" He gestured at the man who had yet to regain consciousness._

"_The same that happens to everyone else who fails."_

"_But, sir, he's an excellent fighter. You saw him. He almost beat me."_

"_The key word here, Fair, is _almost_. SOLDIER will take no 'almost's.'"_

_Zack clenched his jaw tightly. "I understand, sir."_

"_Good."_

_When the man vacated the room, Zack went over to the fallen man and gently turned him onto his back. He checked his nose, found that he had indeed broken it and checked his eyes for a concussion, which, to his dismay, was also present. He sighed, a wave of sadness replacing the euphoria of finally making it into SOLDIER._

"_I'm sorry, Cloud."_

…

Cloud grunted with exertion as he leapt onto a ledge to escape the shower of gunfire pelting down upon him, a counterattack mechanism built into the hulking tower of metal—an Airbuster, he recalled from his days in SOLDIER—and an annoying one at that. On the other side of the robot, intermittent barrages of bullets alerted him to the fact that Barret was paying his dues to their opponent. Slight alarm flashed through his mind briefly when he realized that he had never seen Tifa fight and therefore had no idea how she was handling the monstrosity they faced. A series of heavy blows resounding against dense metal dispelled most of his concerns, though he wondered how she could land such violent punches whilst keeping her knuckles intact.

Electricity crackled at his fingertips as he summoned the power buried within the depths of the lightning materia embedded in his sword. He was no master of the art, but he knew enough of the rudiments to cause significant damage if there be a need—in which case, there was. A current of bright light shot from his hand and extended like tree branches as it short-circuited the machine for a brief couple of seconds. The jolt was not enough to incapacitate the machine, but it certainly moved far slower than it had before.

Pushing off against the railing to gain momentum, he followed his magic attack with a furious onslaught of his over-sized sword. The buster sword sliced deep into the metal armor of the mechanical horror, and it shuddered in response, its mobility severely hindered.

"Finish it now!" he yelled to his companions.

Barret responded with a grunt, a loud whirring sound emanating from his gun-arm as he gathered in firepower. Tifa unleashed a brutal series of rapid punches, her last packed blow shattering the robot's once-impregnable armor and breaking through to its heart of wires, the electronic crackle of torn connections escalating the cacophony echoing throughout the cavernous room. A ground-shaking blast that blinded them ripped from the gun grafted into Barret's arm, followed by a boom of which the decibel was so great that they could not hear it.

The light faded into an unsettling stillness, the formidable machine finally tamed. Cloud examined his blade carefully, found it keen as ever before sheathing it on his back.

"Not bad. Thirteen minutes to run," commented Tifa as she slid off her leather fighting gloves and tucked them into her pocket.

The nonchalant smile that was fighting its way to Cloud's face remained buried when the robot suddenly convulsed, shocks of electricity branching across the body of the metallic beast. Before any of them could react, an explosion of metal shrapnel had Barret and Tifa thrown to the floor with arms crossed protectively above their heads.

Cloud would have done the same, were it not for the fact that he suddenly found himself suspended in thin air for a fraction of a second as the floor disappeared from beneath him. Then he was falling.

A shriek resounded from above him as he reached out blindly for a handhold. He muffled a scream of pain when he managed to catch the jagged edge of the mutilated metal catwalk and thanked all that was good in the world for the protective cloth he had not yet unwrapped from his hands. If it weren't for that, it was likely that his fingers would have been sliced off from the impact. As it was, the metal dug deep into his flesh, but he was saved from a premature meeting with the ground from however many stories up they were—at least for the moment.

"Cloud!" Tifa's face appeared from over the edge of the destroyed catwalk. Her eyes were wild, an inexplicable fear spilling from their very depths. Concern? No, something much stronger. Pain, sadness, anger. Loss. Regret. She stretched out a desperate hand to him, but they both knew that he had fallen too far for her to reach him.

A wry laugh almost escaped his lips at the double-layered truth of the situation. How true it was that he had fallen too far. Too far to be saved. Too far to be worthy of her concern.

…

_Blink._

I only scraped my knees back then.

_Blink._

Back then? Back when?

_Blink._

You know. Back then. You remember, don't you? Or do you not _want_ to remember?

…

It took even Barret much of his strength to restrain the young barmaid from leaning too far over the edge in her desperation to save the newest member of Avalanche from an untimely death. "Stop, Tifa! There's nothing we can do for him now."

She struggled to loosen his vice-like grip around her waist, but to no avail. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Barret? We can't just leave him!" Frantically, she turned her attention to the object of her concern. "Cloud!"

"Damn it! I can't hold on much longer."

"I know. We'll get you back up. Just a little longer, Cloud. Just a little longer."

"Tifa, you have to go, or else you won't get out of here in time."

Barret grunted. "He's right, Tifa. We gotta get outta here."

"No! Why can't you understand? I can't leave him behind like this! And damn it, Cloud! Stop telling me to run. There's still too much I haven't said to you, too many questions that need answers, so just hang on until we figure out how to pull you up!"

Under other circumstances, Cloud could imagine feeling a mysterious sense of joy from her words welling up in the depths of his heart, but at this moment, he could only feel despair. Why sacrifice her life for a stranger she didn't even know anymore? He didn't deserve it, and he certainly wasn't worth it. "I know, Tif. I know, but—"

"Since you know, shut the hell up and let me think!"

He shook his head in defeat as he realized that it truly was useless to argue with the willful woman. "Barret, get her out of here."

The big man scrutinized him for a long while before relenting. There really was no hope for Cloud anymore and the best they could do was to live on so that they may avenge his death. "Tifa, he's right. Let's go."

"No, no, NO!" she shrieked, renewing her efforts to escape Barret's hold once again. "I'm not gonna let you disappear out of my life that easily again!"

Such desperate eyes! He studied her, suddenly finding himself thinking that their reunion had been cut far too short and would end far too abruptly. They should have had innumerable days spent recalling fond memories. They should have talked.

_Tifa…_

His grip slipped, his last conscious vision one filled with wide brown eyes as he tumbled into the darkness below.

…

_Blink._

I only scraped my knees back then.

_Blink._

You again. What do you want?

_Blink._

Why do you ask me that? Don't you already know?

_Blink._

If I knew, I wouldn't be asking. Who are you?

_Blink._

Don't worry about me right now. Can you move?

_Blink_.

I don't know. I'll try.

_Blink._

Good. It's time.

…

She tucked a lock of chestnut hued bangs behind her ear as she deliberated the man that had literally fallen through the roof and into her flowerbed.

He was young, early twenties, and quite attractive, she had to admit. Quite familiar, too, for that matter, with the way he was dressed. A slender hand reached out of its own volition and gently touched one of the wayward spikes of which his hair was comprised. She was amazed to note that the hair was soft and supple in her fingers, yet she should not have been surprised. After all, _he_...She shook her head with a sad smile.

Her hand moved down to below his nose, where she felt for a sign of life. Upon finding the faint expulsion of air, she breathed a sigh of relief. So he managed to survive the fall. She looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling and found a maw of darkness staring back. There was no telling from what heights he had fallen. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly who this man was.

She prodded his shoulder. "Hey, can you hear me?" No response. With a small sigh, she closed her eyes in meditation as she reached within her soul to excavate the power to heal. A mellow green light pulsated around her body before concentrating on her outstretched harm and ultimately spreading throughout the man's prone form. Minutes passed as bones mended and torn muscles knit together.

Dark lashes parted as her eyes blinked open. She nudged him with her finger again. "Hey, can you hear me? Wake up!"

She was rewarded with a soft groan that sounded suspiciously like a name, a girl's name. A nostalgic smile brushed across her lips. She wondered if _he_ had ever whispered her name unconsciously like that before. Her smile faded when she remembered that _he_ would no longer even have the opportunity to do so.

For many years, she had prayed fervently for his safe return, the dreams of their future together so vivid in her mind that she had dared to hope, dared to plan, dared to be happy. Then a faint whisper drifting in the wind crushed the life she had so painstakingly erected in her heart. And just like that, he was gone.

The hopeless romantic in her hoped that their destiny—that of this man and whoever the girl it was whose name played so gently on his lips—would unveil in a manner far kinder than it had for her. Yet, that little weed of bitterness that had formed in the dark corners of her hope after so many years of prayer and disappointment contested that happiness was not possible in the world in which they lived.

Another groan and she suddenly found herself staring into the depths of a pair of electrifyingly bright blue eyes._ Mako_, she realized immediately. No wonder he wasn't dead.

"Where am I?" The voice was hoarse, wary. Apparently her visitor was not too keen on trust.

"A church in the Sector Five slums," she replied cheerfully. Times were hard enough as it was that the last thing people needed was building more unfounded suspicion upon the other. "The roof and the flowerbed must have broken your fall."

"Flowerbed…?" He looked about him confusedly before jumping to his feet in shock, his mind not quite registering the fact that he was completely unscathed. "Sorry about that."

She giggled lightly, an agreeable sound that rung pleasantly in his ears. "It's okay. The flowers here are quite resilient. I think it's something in the air."

"Flowers, huh? Don't see many of those around here," he commented offhandedly, slightly affected by the strangely exhilarating scent emanating from the vegetation.

"Yeah. The slums are too polluted for flowers to grow, but they never seem to have any trouble flourishing here." She gestured towards the indoor garden with a fond smile. "It's because this church is a holy place, you know."

"Holy place?" He'd never put much stock into mysticism and the like, but he had to admit that if there was ever a place that screamed of holiness and spiritualism, this church would be it. Still, calling it "holy" stretched the limits of what he was willing to accept in terms of spirituality.

She noticed the skepticism etched into the inflection of his voice, but chose not to comment on it. She'd seen plenty of people like him before, so enraptured by surviving day to day that they could not perceive the grand, overarching scheme of life. Yet she could sense that he wanted to believe that there was a purpose. Yes, he wanted to believe, but his mind refused to let go.

Then, with a sudden intake of breath, she saw it. The hair. The clothes. The sword. The manner in which he held himself. All the similarities were alarming, yet comforting in a strange way.

_So that's it then. Did you bring him here on purpose?_ she wondered. _Do you want me to help him? Or do you want _him_ to help _me_?_

She chuckled to herself. It was so like him to be so concerned. Even in death. "My name is Aeris, by the way."

"Cloud."

An eyebrow quirked. "Cloud? Interesting name."

"So I've been told."

Another laugh that filled the old church with the brightness of tomorrow. "I'm sure. So what do you do, Cloud?"

The man hesitated, but only briefly. "A little of everything."

"A jack of all trades, then."

"I suppose you could call it that."

"Sounds like fun, being able to do whatever you want whenever you want."

"It's not all _that_ great," he mumbled, the memory of tumbling hundreds of feet through intangible air still vivid in his mind.

"Still, it must be nice. Getting to travel all the time, I mean. I would love to move out of Midgar someday." Mist layered her deep emerald eyes, a wistful sigh caught in her throat as some distant horizon flooded her vision. "Traveling…I think it's in my blood."

"Maybe you'll get the chance one of these days." He didn't know why, but he felt that sadness should never cross her countenance.

Another smile. She truly was a woman of smiles. Smiles and flowers and sunshine and warmth. "Maybe." She knelt to tend to the flowers that he had crushed, thus effectively ending the conversation. Or so he thought. "I'm just a flower-girl from the slums. How much of a difference can I really make, I wonder?"

She wasn't talking to him anymore, of that he was certain. Add to it the troubling note of fatality in her words which seemed quite at odds with her cheery persona, and he found himself wondering if her background was really as simple as that of a mere flower-girl. Still, he had no words of comfort to give, so he remained stoically silent.

The hard clunk of a pair of steel-toed boots striking against hard-wood floor resonated through the musty air of the church. The floorboards creaked in resistance to the additional weight and the peaceful state he'd been lulled into shattered instantly. Cloud eyed the intruder warily, but the girl—Aeris—either did not notice him or did not bother to notice as she continued to apply her concentration on the lily patch.

Cloud silently appraised the man, and found himself clenching his jaw tightly in anticipation of a difficult fight. The man's carefree stance and lithe frame belied strength not to be belittled. A mop of intense red hair topped a lean face that was currently pulled into a wry smirk. Though he carried with him a frivolous attitude, the strength in his eyes threatened severe consequences should his wishes be defied. Hands in his pockets, the man exuded confidence.

So focused on his appraisal of the redhead that he hadn't noticed when Aeris moved to his side.

"Have you ever been a bodyguard?" she whispered.

"A bodyguard?"

"You said you do a little of everything, so can you be my bodyguard?" When he fell silent, she added the extra incentive. "One date as payment?"

His eyes glanced at her in surprise before training themselves on the man again. "…A date…?"

"Not with me, silly. I'll help set up a date for you with that girl whose name you were calling when you were unconscious."

"I called her name?"

"So you know which girl I'm talking about?" He clenched his jaw. She could have been mistaken, but she was pretty certain it was a layer of red that she saw surface on his cheeks. "One date."

He nodded after a moment's hesitation. "I'm not doing this for the date."

She smirked knowingly. "Of course not."

He sighed inwardly, wondering why he agreed to such a ludicrous deal. He hadn't thought about _her_ in any way that even vaguely resembled anything romantic this whole time, so what was he thinking?

Pain-filled chocolate eyes flashed in his mind and he almost started. Then he remembered. When he had been hanging onto that catwalk, inches from inevitable death, all he could think about was how much he regretted not spending more time with the girl he knew when he was still a boy. So was this a second chance then?

_Or is it a _third_ chance?_ wondered a little voice in his head.

He shook it away and focused his attention on the man again. There was something familiar about the man, something about his manner of dress that struck a chord of anxiety deep in his chest. Something sinister? He didn't know, but it disturbed him to the core.

Then his eyes hardened when he realized that he recognized that uniform. "You're a Turk," he stated simply.

A dark brow lifted in response. "So you know about us Turks, now do ya? Then you know not to get in my way." He turned his attention to Aeris. "Hey sis. Don't you ever get tired of running? Time to head back with us, little missy."

Cloud reached for the sword strapped to his back—thankfully still there after the fall—and the adrenaline of combat began to pump through his veins as a couple of regular Shinra troops entered the church behind the first man.

He'd never liked the Turks, and now he remembered why.

* * *

**A/N:** Side note before I forget. It would be a good idea to pay attention to details or else you might end up severely confused. That's all. Remember to review! Thanks!


	6. Bodyguard

A/N: Yay! Be proud of me. I finally got another chapter of this out. Anyhow, thank you very much for the reviews. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside when people review and let me know I'm doing something right. I'm also very glad people are liking the minor liberties I take in unraveling this story.

Anyway, lots of stuff going on in this chapter including quite a bit of Cloud-Aeris interaction (yes, **interaction**. Nothing more...), but on a purely platonic level, so for all my lovely Cloti shippers, don't get too freaked out. And hopefully, I'll be doing justice to Aeris' character for all you Aeris fans because--we must all admit it--she's a pretty spunky girl who's got more facets to her personality than most people think.

Okay, with all that out of the way, here is next chapter. Like always, enjoy and leave a review please! (And I'd love for you to check out my other multi-chappy story, **OCEANS AWAY**, that I just started too!)

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Five**

The night passed in a blur. Screams of agony cornered her from every side—came from her? She couldn't tell. Then there was the faint sense of someone picking her up bodily and slinging her across a set of broad shoulders. Movement that jogged her vision. Flames licked the metal around her, but she could only feel the burning trail of tears streaming down her face.

How quickly things change! The slightest traces of a smile had been working its steady way to his lips—she could see it creeping up—and then sudden chaos. Screams that belonged, all at once, to herself as well as to the creaking metal, all of it mingling with the quietly raging inferno.

Screams and fire. Two elements that defined her life.

In all honesty, she could not quite grasp why she was so affected. She knew the fate that awaited her when she had first joined. She had never been sheltered from danger, nor was she a stranger to tragedy. She knew but still her heart ached. And yet, what was he to her that her soul would mourn so greatly for his loss? A memory? A hope that the innocence of her past could be restored to her? Or perhaps one last defense before she is forced to concede that this reality is indeed her life.

She couldn't say. All she knew was the void in her heart that refused to be filled.

"Tifa." She recognized that voice. Barret. Gruff as it was, she found comfort in its familiarity. "Tifa, can you walk?"

She nodded—physically or mentally?—but it must have been physically because she felt herself slipping from her perch on Barret's shoulder and feet touching the ground. She swayed once, but held herself steady. Survival. It was a teacher from whom she had learned much at a young age and still it taught her faithfully.

Her legs carried her though she couldn't be certain as to where they would lead. Darkness surrounded her on every side as her body moved methodically—familiarly—through the night. First survive another night. Pain—mourning?—could wait until morning.

…

"Exit through the back." Aeris' soft whisper was tinged with the faintest hint of anxiety, though not nearly as much as one would expect when caught in such a predicament as the one presented before her.

Cloud's returning nod was equally slight, automatically taking note in his subconscious of her calm response as something to question her about in the future. It was almost as if this was not her first encounter with the Turks. Indeed, it was almost as if she was on familiar terms with this redhead. Not for the first time, Cloud wondered exactly who this flower girl was that she would attract such attention from such a ruthless group.

He drew his sword out before him as he guarded Aeris' retreat into the backroom of the dilapidated church. The Turk and his Shinra lackeys watched with mild disinterest, almost as if they didn't care that she was getting away. That or they were confident that she _couldn't_ get away.

Regardless of the circumstance, his nerves tingled from the anticipation of a battle. Fighting for him was a form of liberation that granted him peace that surpassed all else. It liberated him from his thoughts, his memories, and even from himself. It was a higher form of existence. He yearned to engage the handful of men into battle immediately, but the portion of his mind that had yet to be overtaken with battle lust reminded him that his priority at this time was the girl's safety.

His retreating steps backward were carefully measured, never for one moment leaving himself open to attack. Strangely, the Turk let him go without resistance.

From the moment he awoke in this run-down church, nothing followed conventional wisdom. First was this girl with her ability to grow flowers in the middle of the slums who simultaneously was someone important enough to Shinra that he would send Turks after her, and then there was this Turk who seemed to care little—if at all—about his duties.

But then again, nothing in the world is constant save constant change. Who was he to question the workings of the universe?

…

Though it appeared that Reno was only mildly interested in the duo who had just slipped through to the back of the church, the reality was precisely the opposite. That man…his eyes luminesced with the ethereal, eerie glow of Mako. He knew, of course, that those eyes could only mean one thing.

A wry chuckle escaped his thin lips. He'd never fought a SOLDIER before. What better opportunity to prove that genetic engineering was not necessary for superiority? He was a Turk, and everyone knew that only the true elite could join their ranks. These SOLDIERS, powerful as they were, were little more than artificial fighting machines.

"Are you just going to let them go, Reno sir?"

The redheaded Turk pinned the foolish man with a lazy gaze that nonetheless sent jolts of fear throughout the subordinate's limbs. Ignoring his question completely, Reno followed the SOLDIER to the backroom, calling out as he went, "Don't step on the flower bed."

The Shinra troops glanced amongst themselves, none of them willing to point out the fact that Reno had just trampled the flowers himself.

…

"So why—" Cloud paused briefly as he jumped across the broken floorboards "—are the Turks, of all people, after _you_?"

The brown-haired girl responded with a nervous laugh. Taking a deep breath, she took a running start to leap across the same breadth that Cloud had so easily cleared. "Is this really such a good time to be asking that?"

"I don't see why not."

Aeris glowered at him. It simply wasn't fair how little effort this was taking him in comparison, though she supposed it only made sense. "Maybe because there's still the little matter of us escaping from the Turks, as you so affectionately call them."

"Technically, there's only one of them. The rest are just regular Shinra troopers."

"Does it really matter?"

"If I'm going to be your bodyguard, I need to know what I have to guard you from."

"How about we get out of this little situation first and then I'll explain later?"

Another jump, another pause.

"Cloud!"

The blonde stopped his progress and looked back to see Aeris panting heavily, though she was apparently not drained of the energy to fix a mighty glare on him. Eyes darkened, she pointed at the gaping length of nothing that now sprawled between the two. "Well that's just peachy. I can't jump that," she stated bluntly.

"You have any better ideas?"

"No, but I'd really much rather not become a puddle of pancake anytime soon."

"There they are!" A round of gunfire had the flower-girl falling to a defensive crouch.

"Watch it idiot. Don't hurt the Ancient." Reno's indolent drawl echoed against the rotted wooden panels.

_Ancient. Why's that name so familiar?_

…

_"The blood of the Ancients courses through my veins."_

_Blink._

_"I am the rightful heir to the planet!"_

_Blink._

_"This world belongs to the Ancients. It belongs to me!"_

…

"Cloud! Do something!"

He responded with a grunt, the hail of gunfire trailing him across the rafters. "Just hang on a minute. I'm thinking!"

"We don't exactly _have_ a minute to spare, Cloud."

Her stating the obvious was not helpful in the least bit, he wanted to say, but he held his tongue and he held his peace. Eyes darted about the decrepit church. What was he even searching for? Something to distract them, perhaps? An escape route? An excuse to unleash his repressed urges to fight and kill?

His frustration neared the point of growling when he saw a possible escape. Sitting atop the rafters were a couple of rotting barrels. He eyed them with a skeptical eye. Would that really work? With a mental shrug, he quickly closed the distance to the nearest one.

There was really only one way to find out.

The groaning creak of wood grating against wood was the only warning the Shinra troops had before several large barrels tumbled down on their heads from above. Cloud took advantage of the confusion to toss a coil of rope down from the rafters.

"Jump!"

Aeris heeded his command without a second's hesitation and latched onto the rope, the rough fibers burning into her palms, and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out in pain as Cloud pulled her up to the rafters. It was a small price to pay for freedom however, and within seconds, Aeris joined Cloud to make their escape through the gaping hole on the roof that Cloud had created earlier when he had fallen from the sky.

So intent were they on their escape that they completely missed the look of amusement flicker across Reno's face. He pulled out his cellphone. "Mr. Shinra, I have some news that may be of interest to you..."

...

The ever-present hum of mechanical whirs infiltrating the night air was abundantly more peaceful compared to the shower of gunfire they had just escaped. Indeed, for a night in the slums, it was relatively calm out.

The air was stale though, as it always was underneath the plate with no wind, and made for difficult breathing as Cloud and Aeris picked their way across the rooftops, their pace slowing considerably after realizing that the Turk named Reno wasn't planning on following them.

"Cloud, slow down a little."

Apparently Cloud's version of slow differed slightly from Aeris' version as she struggled to keep up with him. With a small inward sigh, he glanced back to see Aeris trailing behind him. He slowed to a stop, several questions brewing inside his head.

"How is it that the Turks haven't caught you yet?"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're...There's nothing about you that could stop them if they really wanted to catch you."

"I think I should be offended."

"It's not just you. I mean, you do know what they do, don't you?"

"They scout for possible SOLDIER candidates, among other things."

He snorted. "Yeah, among other things like spying, murdering, and all-around underhandedness. No offense, but if you can't even keep pace with me right now, how is it possible that you've managed to not get caught? For that matter, how long have they been after you?"

She shifted uncomfortably as she mumbled, "A couple of years…"

"A couple of years? What, like two?"

"More like ten."

"Ten years?! How…?"

She shrugged off the topic, her eyes not quite meeting his. "You were in SOLDIER before, weren't you?"

Cloud started. "I was. How'd you guess?"

"Your eyes. They glow of Mako."

"…How do you know these things? There's no way you're just a flower girl."

She looked away, unbidden memories of _him_ flooding her mind's eye mercilessly. It certainly did not help matters that her new bodyguard held such an uncanny resemblance to the one who held her heart. "It's nothing."

"Well, can you at least tell me why they're after you? This is obviously not the first time."

"Ahaha….right. About that. Maybe they think I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER."

Cloud frowned, but didn't push the subject. Everyone had their own secrets—he knew he had his—so he really had no right to pry. "You're just a person surrounded by 'how's,' aren't you?" he sighed with a tone that ranged somewhere between amusement and mock exasperation. "Alright, at least tell me where I can bring you that's safe."

Aeris smiled brightly. "My house is just outside the Sector Five slums. We can go there."

"Show me the way."

…

"Don't go after him, Tif. He's dangerous."

"I know that Barret. I can handle myself," she replied thinly, irritation crawling its way into her voice.

The argument had lasted for an hour thus far, ever since they overheard some Shinra guards talk about Shinra's "terrorist eradication plan" on their way back from the reactor. They hadn't bothered with interrogating the guards then as it probably would have been pointless. Troops of their rank only followed orders.

But, the name Don Corneo, the infamous mob boss, lecher and self-declared king of Wall Market, had surfaced. As to what his exact involvement with this "terrorist eradication plan" was, there was no way to really know, but it was obvious that he would know something about it.

Hence, why Tifa wanted to infiltrate his mansion and squeeze the information out of the bastard. To which plan Barret vehemently opposed. Both were adamant in their position and both were stubborn as hell.

Which, of course, led to the situation at hand.

"Seriously, Tifa. Look at me." The big man placed firm hands on her shoulders and turned her so that they were facing each other. "Look, I know you're upset 'bout Spik—about Cloud, but—"

"This has nothing to do with him. I'm just doing what needs to be done," she insisted.

"Bullshit. You're letting it affect your judgment. You a great fighter, Tif, I know that, but your head just hasn't been the same since the little man died."

"He's not dead."

"And I'm tellin' you to leave Corneo alone. We'll plan something out. Don't get all reckless on me now." He stepped back with a look that was clearly assessing her stability. "I'm going out on recon. I swear, Tifa, if you do anything stupid while I'm out, there'll be hell to pay."

Her jaw clenched tightly though she nodded half-heartedly, her thoughts already wandering. With another dubious glance, Barret finally left her to herself. She stared at the empty doorway for another moment longer, eyes hardening with determination.

_I can't just sit around and do nothing. I'm sorry Barret, but I have to do this._

…

"Mom, I'm back!"

Cloud hung back a little, his eyes studying their current position carefully. Aeris' house was certainly large for its location in Midgar, and the massive garden situated to the side of the house was a rare sight indeed. Still, for all its size, it did not come off as foreboding, but rather intimate. It must have been a pleasant place, filled with love and comfort, to have been able to grow up in.

It brought back memories of his own home. Maybe that was how it would have looked if his mother was still—

"Aeris!" An older woman enveloped the flower girl in a tight embrace. "Did they come after you again? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Cloud, my bodyguard, was with me."

Aeris' mother looked up to scrutinize Cloud with curious eyes before giving him a nod of acknowledgment. She was a pretty woman for her age, the years tempering what would have been sharp edges around her eyes and mouth. Soft brown eyes lent her a gentle disposition, her dark auburn hair pulled back out of her face. "Thank you for bringing my daughter home safely."

"It wasn't a problem. Actually, I was wondering if you could let me know how to get back to Tifa's Seventh Heaven over in Sector Seven."

Aeris raised an eyebrow and smirked. "_Tifa's _huh?" The extra emphasis she put on "Tifa" was not lost to him, but he chose to ignore it. "It's not too far from here. I can bring you there."

"Why would you want to put yourself in danger again like that? Just tell me how to get there and I'll manage."

He neglected to mention that the other reason he didn't want her to show him the way was because he didn't want her saying anything about their deal to Tifa. He had a hard enough time as it was just talking with Tifa without old memories coming back that he really did not need the extra awkwardness that the mention of a date would incur.

"Whatever. Men don't know how to follow directions. Besides," her smirk grew, "how else am I suppose to set up a date for you if I don't know who the girl is?"

Cloud had no response.

"Exactly. Now, the gate to Sector Seven is just by Sector Six, so it's not too far."

"Aeris dear," interrupted her mother, "why don't you leave tomorrow morning? It's too late to be going out today. Is that alright with you, Mr. Cloud?"

"That's fine. And it's just Cloud, ma'am."

"Of course. Aeris dear, why don't you set up the guest room for Cloud?"

"Okay."

The older woman waited until Aeris was completely out of earshot before stating bluntly, "You're in SOLDIER."

"I was."

"I see." She made a little humming sound in the back of her throat, almost as if in embarrassment, but the look in her eyes held no hesitation. "I don't mean any offense, but can you leave tonight? Before Aeris wakes up, I mean. We don't need any more trouble than what we already have."

"I understand. I'll be gone before morning."

"Thank you. I do apologize, but…" She trailed off, her posture uneasy.

He grunted in understanding.

Neither needed her to finish the thought. After all, life revolved around one thing and one thing only: survival. You did what was necessary to survive, both for yourself and for those whom you care the most. It was simple, fundamental human motivation.

A couple hours later, as he stared at the ceiling from his reclined position on the bed, he couldn't help but wonder whether his own motivation was quite as simple as all that. What drove him to do what he did? Was it really as simple as survival? If it was, what was this feeling that told him his actions were not his own? That he was not himself?

Questions that burned his very soul, yet ones that refused to be ignored. Ones he would die to understand or die understanding.

He glanced at the bedside clock and almost groaned. He should leave soon, but it had been so long since he had enjoyed the comfort of a bed like this. Ever since _then_…

…

_Blink._

_"So _this_ is what a SOLDIER uniform looks like."_

_Blink._

_"I'll bet the girls never leave you alone."_

_Blink._

_"I'm worried about you, Cloud. The city has a lot of temptations."_

_Blink._

_"What do you think, Cloud?"_

_Blink._

_"How about this, Cloud?"_

_Blink._

_"You've grown so much, Cloud."_

_Blink._

_"I missed you, Cloud."_

_Blink._

_"Cloud."_

_…_

He nearly rolled off the bed before the deluge of memories finally stopped. So many problems to which he had no answers. So much pain. How much better it would be if he could just forget them all, wipe out his past as if it never happened!

But that was foolish, he knew. Nothing he did could wipe out the reality of his past.

But then…if that was true, why did he feel like he was walking through a dream in the present?

He shook his head. He should just get back to the AVALANCHE hideout. Maybe there he could find some answers. The question was, did he really want to find them?


	7. Deviant Behavior

A/N: Would you look at that? An update for one of my real multi-chapter stories. Whatever is the world coming to? hahaha....yeah, I think I realized that I'd spent way too much time being detailed and laying out a super intricate plot that everything got a little bogged down. I'll try to get a faster pace going soon, but you all know me by now. I'm nothing if not unpredictable. Lol.

Anyhow, I'd appreciate it much if you'd drop a review. And, yes I am shamelessly plugging for myself, but go and check out some of my new oneshots too. Thanks a bunches. Enjoy!

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**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Six**

To say that she was trapped in a rather delicate predicament would have been an egregious understatement. Put bluntly, if she couldn't figure out a way to extract herself from this situation, she was screwed. Quite literally at that.

With a soft sigh, Tifa tugged lightly on the hem of her dress. For all the short skirts she wore in her usual attire, the bold blue dress she currently sported proved to be uncomfortably revealing. The soft fabric often crawled up her thighs, and she couldn't help but think that the teardrop cut between her breasts revealed an expanse of silken skin that no one but her future husband should have the privilege of seeing.

But this had been her own doing, foolish as it was. She'd ignored every single one of her instincts—including the warnings that Barret had poured so profusely on her—and pitched herself headlong into a pit of writhing, carnivorous snakes. This was the price she paid for ignoring the voice of reason.

She glanced around at her surroundings, not bothering to repress the shiver that crawled up her spine as she did so. It was utterly disgusting how deeply perversion ran.

The room they'd left her in more resembled a torture chamber than anything, yet she highly doubted that torturing people in the common sense was all they did here. Large blocks of mortar comprised of the walls, and the stone table standing in the middle of the room spoke of depraved fantasies wrangled from the minds of pleasure-craven madmen. The bile rose in her throat and it was all she could do to keep it down.

She should not be here. It had been a foolhardy plan from the beginning. _Was_ there even a plan to begin with? She suddenly realized that, in all her fervor to find the truth, she'd never really thought out what would happen once she managed to gain entrance into Corneo's mansion.

The resounding click of high heels striking against stone floor brought her attention to the long staircase leading to the "torture room," as she had dubbed it. Someone—a woman, as evidenced by the clicking stilettos—was joining her.

Her lips pulled down in a frown. Having another woman here would complicate things. She really much preferred not having to do anything overly seductive in order to procure a solo audience with Corneo. But, if it was absolutely necessary…

She shook her head, her frown deepening a fraction more. So what if it was necessary? How far was she willing to go for this cause? Never before had she ever entertained the possibility of sacrificing her innocence, her _dignity_, in exchange for information. So why was she willing to do so now?

It was all so stupidly ludicrous, and so far from where her morals stood. She couldn't understand herself, why she had been so obstinate about this particular mission—though admittedly, it wasn't so much a mission as it was an example of her wayward imprudence. And yet…and yet a part of her knew why, but the majority of her refused to acknowledge it.

Barret was right when he had said that her head wasn't the same since Cloud fell. _Yes, fell. Not died, _she reminded herself.

Her thoughts scattered when a young woman around her age charged into the room, came up close to her, before suddenly retreating to a corner of the room. Curious, Tifa watched the woman carefully. With a long purple dress that was exceedingly modest and blonde hair pulled back into almost school-girlish twin braids, she certainly seemed far too shy to be doing something like _this_.

With a grimace, Tifa reflected on her own position and decided she really wasn't one to judge.

Still, there was a certain attractive quality to her. Despite her docile appearance, she seemed almost dangerous, and everyone knows how attractive danger can be. Maybe it was that element of mystery that gave the blonde woman such an appeal. Yet, if Tifa didn't know better, she would have attributed the blonde woman's quiet intensity to a type of masculinity.

Another set of stiletto heels clicking against tile floor and Tifa suddenly found herself face to face with a stunning brunette. The newcomer cast an amused glance at the blonde—they obviously knew each other—before flashing her a bright smile.

"You're Tifa, right?"

Tifa studied her briefly before replying hesitantly, "Yes. And you are—?"

The woman's smile broadened. "Nice to finally meet you, Tifa. My name is Aeris."

"Should I know you?"

"No, but I suppose you could say that we have a mutual friend." She continued when Tifa gave her a confused look. "Cloud."

"Cloud?" replied Tifa with alarm. The sudden mention of his name resuscitated a hope she didn't know had died.

"We saw you coming out of the Sector Seven gate. Something didn't seem right, so we came after you."

"We?" she echoed. "But, but…"

_But Cloud doesn't know anyone else in Midgar._ _But he's not here. But he's dead…_

Part of her felt selfish and foolish for thinking that Cloud had no other acquaintances here in Midgar. She had just assumed…Considering the circumstances…Her gaze turned downward as a wry smile crossed her lips. No, she remembered now.

When Corneo's men had come to take her away in the chocobo-driven carriage, they'd passed by the park outside Sector Seven. There, she'd a couple sitting close together at the top of a moogle slide. The man's silhouette had been achingly familiar, but she had not dared to hope. Not after she had so thoroughly steeled herself for the worst.

That…that and she didn't want to face the little monster of envy that had crawled unbidden up her stomach.

But now, it proved obvious that the man _had _been Cloud and the woman was none other than the green-eyed beauty who stood before her now with a friendly smile. A woman Tifa already knew she could never hate.

"I see," Tifa finally said with a nod. "You were in the park, with Cloud."

"Right, with Cloud," replied Aeris cheerfully. Tifa's composed mask slipped just a hair and Aeris quickly realized her mistake. "Oh, I don't mean _with _Cloud. It's nothing, really. We've only just met actually. Well, more like he fell through the roof of my church and landed on my flowerbed, but really. It's nothing. So you don't have to worry."

"W-worry?!" Tifa exclaimed a bit too quickly. With a nervous chuckle, she replied, "No, no, no. You have it all wrong. It's nothing. We're just friends." _If we can even be called that_, she added darkly in her mind.

Aeris suddenly laughed, the mischievous twinkle in her eye offsetting her otherwise innocent appearance. "Oh boy. Poor Cloud, taking all this verbal abuse from us. I fancy it's not very pleasant being called 'nothing' all the time." She turned toward the blonde, who looked suspiciously like she wanted nothing more than to charge out of the room. "Isn't that right, Cloud?"

…

It took much of his self-control to restrain the groan from escaping his lips. Part of him knew it was inevitable, but somehow he had still hoped that this particular confrontation would not occur. Or rather, that he would not be in this particular state when it did.

He watched almost distantly as Tifa's eyes first popped wide open, then her mouth quivered as if she wanted to say something, before she finally exclaimed with a sort of muffled squeak, "Cloud?! You're alive!"

She rushed toward him and made a motion to tangle him in a fierce embrace before something indefinable flickered in her eyes. Instead, her hands latched onto his forearms tightly as she examined him with shining eyes. "You're here! Alive! How did you survive? And—" he bit back a sigh when she took in the rest of his appearance with a curious—if not somewhat disturbed—eye. "—and why are you dressed...well…like _this_?"

The attention she poured on him was foreign, but he could not deny that it ignited a warmth in his stomach that welled up pleasantly, albeit unexpectedly. He held up his hands to calm her, breaking contact with Tifa in the process which left his arms feeling eerily cold. "Easy there. When I fell from the reactor, I woke up at Aeris' church. She helped me."

"Oh, she did."

"As for why I'm dressed like this…there really wasn't another way for me to get in without making a big commotion…" Cloud eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly when she suddenly dropped her gaze. "Tifa, what are you doing here?"

"…About that..."

Her eyes darted timidly to Aeris for the briefest moment before returning to that fascinating spot on the floor. It was enough to alert the green-eyed brunette to the fact that this was an issue where discretion was gold.

She chuckled sheepishly, saying, "I'll just go plug my ears and stand in the corner. Take your time."

A large part of Cloud was thankful for Aeris' acuity, but another part of him almost wished that she would have stayed, if only to alleviate the twisting flutter that suddenly ignited in his stomach. He was only too well aware of Tifa's state of dress, and as controlled as he was, it was difficult to focus on anything other than the way her dress clung to her body in such awfully tantalizing ways.

He schooled his expression into a pointed, accusatory look, although he was also painfully aware that the effect was probably severely weakened due to his current appearance. Still, the desired result was not completely lost, and, after a few moments of uncomfortably shifting, Tifa finally acquiesced.

"We got word that Shinra was going to do something to retaliate against Avalanche. Corneo's name came up, so I did a little snooping…" She trailed off, her eyes refusing to meet his. "Anyway, I found out that Corneo is in the market for a 'bride,' so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get close enough to squeeze some information out of the little bastard. I got this far into his mansion, but now I'm kind of stuck. Apparently he has three girls audition for to be his bride every night. As of right now, I'm the only girl, so I guess that means that…well, you know. Only, the problem is I don't exactly have an escape plan…"

It was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a disinterested expression when all he really wanted to do was yell at her for her foolishness, so when she glanced up at him in slight apprehension with those big burgundy eyes of hers, it proved difficult to not take her by the shoulders—those bare, smooth shoulders—and shake some sense into her.

He was saved from having to give a response when Aeris interrupted hesitantly. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but overhear. From what you've been saying, it wouldn't be a problem if you knew the other girls, right?"

Tifa hesitated. "I suppose. I mean, that would make sure one of us gets a private audience with Corneo, and three people would definitely have much better odds if it really comes down to fighting our way out…" Her eyes rose hesitantly to meet Aeris' watchful regard for the first time. "Is it really okay, though? For you, I mean."

Aeris waved her off nonchalantly. "It won't be a problem. I grew up in the slums, after all." The flowergirl held the barmaid's intent gaze, and a sort of quiet understanding passed between them, the verbalized words merely scratching the surface of their unspoken dialogue. In the ten minutes that they'd known each other, they automatically felt a deeper connection than many who'd known each other for years could ever form.

The two women shared a small, secret smile. Yes, it would be alright because from that moment on, they knew they would each willingly sacrifice anything for the other's well-being.

Cloud, on the other hand, was completely ignorant of the silent agreement that had already formed between the two women. "No! I can't get you involved in this."

The flowergirl snorted. "As if I'm not already part of this as it is." A sly "innocent" twinkle graced her eyes. "Besides, you wouldn't want anything to happen to Tifa, now would you?"

He reddened slightly, for a reason he wasn't completely why, but before he could reply, the man who had shown them into the building swung open the doors to the torture chamber. "The Don's ready to see you all now." As he turned to leave, the trio caught his misogynistic comment, "Damn women these days. Don't know how to follow orders."

The three exchanged an exasperated look. This was really it then.

A brief pause in which they each prepared themselves mentally was broken when Cloud hesitantly asked, "I guess this doesn't really need to be said, but the third girl is me, isn't it?"

Tifa and Aeris were caught somewhere between laughter and horror. "You're right. You really didn't…"

"…need to say it."

…

Don Corneo fit the exact stereotype of a lecherous millionaire tycoon. His graying hair had been dyed a bright yellow in a poor attempt to hold on to his quickly expiring days, the swell around his stomach a testament of the grand feasts he'd gorge himself upon while the majority of the slums' inhabitants scrounged daily just to put some semblance of food on the table. Tacky gold jewelry hung around his neck and encircled his pudgy fingers. Tufts of dark chest hair peeked out from beneath his bathrobe looking attire, eliciting in Tifa a sudden urge to throw up her last meal.

But she swallowed her disgust with practiced finesse—working as a barmaid had her encountering people of all backgrounds, many of them far from tolerable—and the Don did have one thing going for him: he didn't have the rancid stench of vomit and dried urine and just the overall stink of the slums clinging to his very being. Though, when she caught a whiff of the strong, artificial-smelling cologne he had showered himself in as he came close to her, she couldn't quite decide which was worse.

Still, the smile she pasted on her face was sweetly seductive and she hoped beyond all hope that the Don would pick her. As grateful as she was for Aeris and Cloud's concern and willingness to help, this was her mission. She knew—she just _knew_!—something big, something horrendously wrong was going to happen and she had to stop it. Faces from the five years she'd spent in Midgar flashed through her mind, making her stomach churn. Regardless of how rough around the edges some of them could be, they were good people. They were her friends. She _had_ to hear it for herself.

Don Corneo's rasping voice broke through her reverie. "Very nice. Very nice indeed! Who should I pick? You?" He came in front of Tifa, severely invading her personal space. It took all her instincts not to flinch away from him, especially when he roughly dragged his hand—that filthy, filthy hand!—up the bare skin of her thigh.

She forced a giggle, when all she really wanted to do was break that invading appendage, and pulled back with mock modesty while masking her disgust. "No touching if you're not buying!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the muscles in Cloud's jaw clench tightly, the cold fury in his eyes unmistakable, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. Yes, she could tell he was worried—no, he was downright furious—but she couldn't tell if it was because Corneo was copping a feel or if it was because of her flirtatious display.

With a hearty boom of laughter, Corneo nodded his approval and moved on to face Cloud, who quickly turned his eyes to the floor. "Hmm…How about you?"

Despite the severity of the situation, Tifa couldn't help the amused look that she shared with Aeris. Every time Don Corneo tried to get a straight look at Cloud's face, he'd immediately avert his eyes. Rather than being angered at the blonde "woman's" passive resistance, Corneo only laughed again with an approving nod. Apparently he liked his women challenging. Tifa shuddered at the thought.

Moving on, Corneo came before Aeris. "Or you?"

"Play fair, Don," replied the flower-girl with a wink.

"Oh-hohohoho! Yes, very good. Very good indeed!"

Corneo walked back to his desk and the three exchanged a look. This was more nerve-racking than she'd expected.

"Alright, I've made my decision! The lucky girl is going to be…"

Tifa held her breath. _God, please let it be me! I can't have other people fighting my battles…_

"…this little beauty."

He'd picked her. Just like she'd hoped. But that didn't help alleviate the sick feeling erupting in her gut. Part of it was a sense of self-hatred stemming from the fact that she only had enough appeal—or maybe she only had the _kind _of appeal—that would attract sick perverts like Don Corneo. That she came off slutty enough to warrant his attention.

The thought disgusted her and not for the first time, she wondered what the years in Midgar had done to that naive little girl who once believed in heroes and happy endings.

"Koch, you and the rest of the boys can share the other two."

"Thank you boss!"

Tifa flinched. That meant that Cloud and Aeris were likely going to be separated too. Cloud she had no worries about, but she cast a concerned eye on Aeris. The flowergirl responded with a wink and a confident smile and when Tifa glanced at Cloud, he gave her a barely perceptible nod.

God, it was going to be a long night.


	8. Answers

A/N: Looky here! An update! Hoorah! I think I've noticed the trend that I update more when I'm busy with classes. Why does that make no sense? Anyhow, hope you all enjoy this latest chapter. Don't forget to drop a review por favor! Thanks!

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**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Seven**

Cloud had a new-found respect for women.

It took a much stronger person than he to withstand wearing high heels for more than ten minutes at a time, though it was a mystery to him why _anyone_ would want to put themselves through that kind of torture. And yes, it felt good to be freed from that prison—how did he ever think it would be a good idea to dress like a woman?—known as a bra, which in his case had been stuffed…a lot, and back into men's clothing, even if it didn't exactly fit right.

It didn't help his pride that they found him pretty.

He tightened the laces on the boots he'd "borrowed" from one of his now very unconscious "suitors" and kicked the body of the closest one for good measure. Having spent his early years in the military, he was well aware of how desperate some men could get without any women around, but this was just a whole new level of perverse. He tried not to dwell on the fact that he'd (though technically they thought he was a she) been locked in a room with six horny bastards. He could only imagine what other terrors had been wrought here.

Looking around the room for a weapon, he picked up a katana, a far cry from his Buster sword, but it was better than nothing at this point. It was comforting just to have metal back in his hands. He quickly stripped two more lackeys of their clothing and bundled it roughly into a carrying bag. The girls would probably appreciate it.

Scanning the room one last time for anything else that could be of use, Cloud slid open the door to check if anyone was in the hall before slipping outside. The second landing was more like a balcony opened to the first floor, making it extremely exposed. It was empty now, but there were far too many doors downstairs for any random person to come through and sound the alarms.

Taking his chances, he sprinted to the large double doors located front and center and breathed a sigh of relief when he opened to the doors to see that Aeris had made it out as well.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Majorly grossed out, but fine." She declined to say anything about where they'd taken her or how she'd managed to get out so he didn't ask. Her eyes fixed on the door half-hidden by the standing fan. "That's where he took Tifa, right?"

His eyes narrowed as he gave a small nod. He tossed her a set of clothes. "Change."

Wordlessly, Aeris ducked behind a sofa to change and quickly reemerged with a short wooden pole. "I took it off the window curtains. Better than nothing."

As they ran towards the door that would lead them to Tifa and Corneo, Cloud found a clash of emotions welling up inside. As much as he was worried about Tifa (and still just a little angry for that matter) he couldn't help wondering whether he should be more concerned over whether there'll be anything left of Corneo to interrogate by the time they got there.

"Tifa!" he called out as they burst through the bedroom doors.

The fire in his eyes burned a little brighter when he saw that Corneo was standing on the bed looking like he was about to pounce on a startled Tifa.

"Cloud!" She jumped off the bed and went to his side. He mutely handed her the bundle of clothes and she took it from him with a grateful smile, if not with a bashful dash of red on her cheeks.

"Wha-? What's going on here?" sputtered Corneo, angry that his "bride" for the night had been stolen but the anger quickly turned to anxiety when he caught sight of the unnaturally bright blue eyes that glared at him as if he were about to skewer him. Which, by the looks of the katana held familiarly in his hands, was a very real possibility.

"Shut up. We're asking the questions now."

The fat little man scrambled farther away from Cloud on the bed. "If you want gil, I can give you as much as you want. Really, just don't hurt me!"

Cloud grabbed a fistful of the slum-lord's shirt and yanked him up. "We don't want your dirty money. We just want answers. Now tell us everything you know about what Shinra is planning on doing to Avalanche."

"A-Avalanche? You mean the terrorist group that blew up the reactor in Sector One? Why would I know anything about them?" He squealed when Cloud shook him threateningly. "Ah!! No really, I don't know anything!!"

Cloud's voice was low but full of promises of hurt. "You tell us now, or I'll chop it off."

Don Corneo fell dumb for a moment before the threat sunk in. Then he yelped. "Nononono!! I'll tell you everything! After Avalanche blew up the Sector One reactor, there was a lot of activity above the plate saying they needed to do something to flush the rebels out. That's all I know. Honest!"

Aeris leaned forward with a menacing gleam in her eyes. "Oh yeah? Tell us everything…or I'll rip it off."

"Nononono! Okay, okay. President Shinra wanted my help—since I operate outside of the public eye—to destroy their base in Sector Seven by dropping the plate on them."

"How?" Three sets of eyes looked up to see Tifa changed out of her dress and into a pair of pants, which she'd ripped off the bottom half of, and an oversized shirt. There didn't seem to be any reason for it, but somehow Cloud found her even more beautiful, ruggedly dressed as she was, than ever before. He suppressed the thought as soon as it came up. Now was certainly not the most appropriate time for that. "How are they going to do it?"

"I really, really can't say. I'll get killed if I tell you!"

There was no calm and collected promise of pain in her eyes like that in Cloud's, nor was there any of the glimmer of humor that had been in Aeris'. There was only thinly restrained rage amplified by her concern for her friends. They flashed dangerously and it would not take much for her to snap. "God help me, Corneo, if you don't tell me, I'll smash it."

Corneo squealed again. "Y-you really aren't joking are you? Well, I'm not either. T-They're gonna blow the support pillar holding up the plate in Sector Seven and blame it on Avalanche. That way they'll get public support from the people."

"You're insane!" cried Aeris. "Innocent people are going to be killed because of this!"

"Shinra doesn't care about that. I'm just glad they're not doing it here in Sector Six."

Cloud clenched his jaw tightly, his fists itching to put a crater in Corneo's self-absorbed head. The sound of Tifa running for the door pulled him out of his violent thoughts. "Tifa?"

"I have to go back now. I have to warn them! All those people…Barret, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, _Marlene_. Oh God, Marlene!" Her eyes took a panicked look to them. Cloud quickly cleared the two steps it took to get to her side near the door, Aeris also following close behind. "What if we don't make it on time? What if—what if they've already done it?!"

"Oh, they haven't dropped it yet," chuckled Don Corneo, a bit of his old swagger returning. Cloud did not like the gleam in the man's eyes. "But, I would be more worried about yourselves right now." His chuckle escalated to a maniacal chortle. "You wouldn't really think I'd be stupid enough to tell you all of that did you? I'm not the king of Wall Market for no reason. I'm sure you'll enjoy the company of my beloved pet down where you're going!"

Before Cloud could react, the floor gave from underneath him and the trio found themselves tumbling into a dark abyss.

…

President Joseph Shinra, the most powerful man in the world, found himself staring dumbly at a security photo of the group of rebels that had just blown up the reactor in Sector One. In particular, his sharp blue eyes were inexplicably drawn to the young man with the indifferent yet unnaturally penetrating glow of Mako spilling from the depth of his eyes who claimed to be an ex-SOLDIER. Could it be?

The security photo lacked quality but the high bridge of his nose, the wide flare of his cheekbones, the strong jaw line…could it be anyone else?

His musings were cut short when the heavy doors to his office groaned open. He sighed inwardly when he saw who it was that would dare enter his chambers so unceremoniously. Their confrontation seemed inevitable. And yet he couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. They'd started as comrades with the same vision for the future and yet somewhere down the road, something had happened. Intentions twisted and methods grew harsh. He became enraptured in the play for power and forgot what it meant to suffer.

But he was too close to stop now. Too close. To close for anyone to stop him.

"Reeve," he acknowledged, his tone bored but clearly holding a note of warning. _Be careful where you tread._

Reeve was a haggard-looking man. The area around his eyes was dark with large bags pillowing his lower lashes. Long black hair hung unkempt around his face, the stubbles along his chin having bloomed into a thick beard. His navy-blue suit had been expensive at one point, but several nights of falling asleep in a cramped office chair showed its marks in the form of deep creases.

"Is it true? That you're going to drop the plate?" asked the slighter man without preamble.

Shinra paused for a moment before deciding that it was foolish to play dumb with Reeve. "Yes."

Reeve shook his head, not so much in disbelief, but in disappointment. "Why?"

"I _will not_ allow the existence of such dissenters in my empire."

"Shinra Corporation was never _meant_ to be an empire!"

"But it is now, and it is _my_ empire. Do not become a problem for me Reeve. I do not take traitors lightly."

"You're the one who's become a traitor." Shaking his head again, Reeve looked up, all the weariness he'd born for so long weighing down heavily on his shoulders. "I will not get in your way but neither will I involve myself in something like this."

"You're resigning?"

"No, I will continue to do my work as usual. I will not abandon my promise like that. I—I'd like to request a two-week leave however."

Shinra stared at him intently. Sometimes Reeve could be so difficult to read, even for him. "Alright. I will approve it once you get the paperwork in."

"Thank you, Joseph."

…

Tifa's first reaction was to take in a deep breath after having fallen such a distance. Her second was to sputter out the mouthful of foul water she'd sucked in with the oxygen she'd been so hungry to breathe. So disorienting was her choking fit that the pair of strong arms pulling her up off the floor and dragging her left side against a solid torso didn't register. Neither did she notice when one of those arms slid protectively around her waist to hold her up while the free hand gently stroked her back in calming sweeps.

Not really aware of her actions, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the available broad shoulder right next to her when all the rank water had been expelled. The arm around her waist tightened fractionally and it subconsciously flitted through her mind that her savior smelled good—really, _really_ good—despite the arid stink that surrounded them. It'd been a while since she'd felt so comfortable.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes snapped open. That voice. That was Cloud. That was Cloud's voice coming from a source very close to her head. She looked up and found herself staring into a set of stony blue eyes that right now looked _almost_ concerned. Then she noticed that she was far too close to him than was healthy for her mind.

"Cloud," she breathed, her voice a little raspy from the coughing. She quickly pushed herself away, trying to make the motion look as smooth as possible by wrenching the liquid out of the bottom of her shirt as soon as she'd put a couple of steps between them. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are _you_ okay?"

He nodded once before going over to a still unconscious Aeris and gently shaking her awake, cradling her body as she too coughed out a good amount of sewer water.

Tifa tried valiantly to suppress the sick feeling of disappointment—and just a little bit of envy—erupting in her gut. She really wanted to kick herself. It'd been stupid to read more into the semi-embrace they'd shared. It couldn't really even be considered such. He had probably just been trying to save her from choking herself to death. Very romantic.

And why was she being so damn awkward about this? She'd never been squirmy around people before. What made Cloud any different?

_Nothing_, she told herself resolutely. _Nothing made him different so stop acting so differently around him!_

Newly resolved, she shook off those rogue thoughts and asked, "Where are we?"

Cloud and Aeris, having now recovered also, stood and looked around. "The sewage system beneath the slums," he replied succinctly.

"Lovely," commented Aeris with a wrinkled nose.

Tifa agreed completely with her sentiment, looking down at her soaked boots. She hated the feeling of squishy shoes. Suddenly, the water around her legs rippled lightly at first before growing increasingly violent. "Uh, I think there's something big coming."

Not a second after she'd spoken, a large wave swept them off their feet and plunged them into the murky waters. They struggled to stand after the wave passed and found themselves facing a monstrous beast which towered over them.

"Don't tell me this is Corneo's 'pet'!" exclaimed Aeris, holding her makeshift staff defensively before her.

"Looks like an overgrown pig. Why couldn't he have just had a dog like normal people?" grumbled Tifa while pulling on the pair of leather fighting gloves that she never left home without. (Though it was a curious question of how she managed hide it within her rather revealing dress…).

Cloud, in the meantime, had already charged in for the first attack, hands flicking the katana in a swift downward arc, which struck against the beast's massive arm, barely leaving a mark on its skin, before swinging it up in a diagonal swipe. That time the thin blade of the katana broke through skin and muscle, blood dripping from the large gash left there. Enraged, the monster stomped his feet like a spoiled two-year old causing another wave of water to flood against the trio. However, they were ready for it this time and braced themselves against it while seeking a footing that would allow them to spring on the beast and catch it off balance.

The waters ceded just enough to allow movement and Tifa chose that moment to shoot forward and land a series of punches and ending the assault with a roundhouse kick that had the beast stumbling backwards. She underestimated its agility, however, and barely missed having her head loped off by its enormous claws when it lashed out in retaliation. Still, she didn't escape completely unscathed; she could feel the fierce throb of torn flesh pulsing across her entire shoulder.

She mouthed a curse. That _hurt_.

Aeris came to her side after unleashing a furious line of flames—the fact that the flower girl knew how to use materia flashed briefly through her mind—and she looked at the injured in horror. Tifa saw an opening and was about to take it but Aeris pulled her back. "Not with that shoulder you don't."

The barmaid nearly growled in frustration, the corner of her eyes catching the sight of Cloud leaping back to avoid the beast's claws. She did not like not taking part in a fight if she could help it. Yes, this hurt. Badly. But so had a lot of other things she'd managed to fight through. "I'm not going to stand around and do nothing," she warned the older girl.

"Of course not. But you are going to let me do something first before I let _you_ do anything!"

With that, Aeris closed her eyes and stretched a hand over Tifa's wounded shoulder, a mellow green aura gently pulsating around the flower girl. Immediately, Tifa felt the angry red gashes prickle with a cooling sensation, almost like someone had slathered aloe gel all over her shoulder. She watched with fascination as torn muscles knit together and broken skin stretched and closed over to leave not even the faintest hints of a scar.

Aeris wiped away the sweat that had beaded on her forehead before she smiled brightly. "_Now_ you can do your thing."

Tifa stared at her curiously. "That wasn't materia."

"No, it wasn't," she confirmed carefully. Then with a wink she said, "Let's just say I have a knack for growing things."

And here Tifa thought she'd seen it all, from a man with a gun grafted on his arm to a rebel ex-SOLDIER. Now it was a girl from the slums who could heal without materia? Things just got better and better didn't they?

With an amused shake of her head, she cracked her knuckles. "Round two."


	9. Reflections of a Broken Soul

A/N: Wow. Would you believe it? It's already been over a year since I first posted this story. Slow going, eh? Hopefully this will change once the tedious beginning part is over and I can get to all the new things I wanted to write into it.

Anyhow, an extra long chapter for your enjoyment. This chapter is...depressing but filled with raw emotion. At least that's what I felt like when I was writing it. The format is a little weird though. I was trying to do it in a way that would reflect Tifa's turmoil during this point of the story and I hoped I managed to do that instead of it just being plain confusing. Just a little disclaimer, I wrote this with the assumption that everyone reading this has already played the game, or at least knows what happened in it. The chronological order is nearly non-existent and it won't make much sense without knowledge of the original so yeah.

This chapter also goes deeper into Tifa's psyche. I think everyone focuses on Cloud's feelings of guilt so often that Tifa doesn't get much acknowledgement in that department. If you've ever read _On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa _(which I just recently reread)_, _however, there's surprisingly a lot of guilt going on in her head than one would expect.

Anyway, many thanks for everyone who's been reviewing. It's such an encouragement to hear back from you all and it really does make me feel warm and fuzzy.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter and don't forget to review! Sank you very much!

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**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Eight**

Tifa stared at the image reflected in the mirror. Matted hair that stunk of blood and fire and ashes and destruction; a sliver of dried blood running across a cheekbone that suddenly looked sunken and sickly pale; lifeless eyes that gazed back at her apathetically. It was almost enough to make her want to throw a fist at the glass and have it shatter all around her.

…

"_Damn it Reno, what the hell do you think you're doing? Stop the bomb!"_

"_Sorry, sweet cheeks," his tone was light but the steel in his eyes, even with the slight apologetic edge fringing them, told her that he would not back down, not even for someone he'd almost consider a friend, "but I'm just following orders."_

_She didn't feel the sick crack of Reno's EMR when it came down on her forearm in response to her anger-blinded attack. She just knew that she had to beat the crap out of him if she wanted to save everyone._

_…  
_

She found that she did not have the passion to do such a thing. Not anymore. Not after she'd personally witnessed exactly what her so-called righteous fury had done for the thousands whose lives had been stolen. All because of her God damn self-righteous fervor! Who was she that so many should die because of her? Who was she to have survived? She shouldn't have survived.

And for a moment her thoughts strayed toward dangerous territory. Human life was so frail. It wouldn't take much to lose, nor would it take much to end her own life. Just a well positioned cut on a major artery and everything would fade away slowly. There would be pain, but she'd known pain far more crushing than that, and it too would fade.

She shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. She knew even as the dark thoughts passed through her mind that she wouldn't do it. She'd always been a coward. Not that she was afraid of dying. Never had she feared death, but she _was_ afraid to face them all. She didn't know how she could ever make amends with all the ghosts that would now haunt her nights and whisper guilt in her heart. No, she would not hurry her meeting with them if she could help it.

She was a coward after all.

Because how _could_ she face them?

That kindly old couple who lived across the street from the Seventh Heaven…

"_Oh Tifa. Good to see you today. Business seems to be going well."_

_Tifa smiled brightly at the elderly woman. It'd taken several months for the old couple to finally get used to the idea that she ran a bar across the street from them, but because of Tifa's strict discipline for her patrons, the neighborhood hadn't degenerated into a further mess than it had been. For that, they were thankful and would sometimes even drop by early in the evening for a meal. _

_"It's alright. I hope nobody's been making trouble for you. You'll be sure to let me know if there is, right?"_

"_Of course dear."_

…The boy who lived in the training center building and who'd been so proud of his one-room inn…

"_Tifa! I finally did it! I finally got old Fred at the weapons' store to let me rent out the top floor for an inn!"_

_She ruffled his hair, an act which he scowled at her for. She only smiled. She liked reminding him that it was okay to not be as grown up as he so often acted. "Really? That's great!"_

"_You'll come by sometime, won't you?"_

"_Of course. Just let me know when __you're__ free."_

…She never did drop by. And now she won't ever have the chance to.

Even her patrons…Though many would be considered the scum of the streets, nearly all of them had been forced into that situation. Nobody rejoiced in their poverty. They were good people, for the most part. They didn't deserve to have their lives crashing down on them because of _her_ actions. The pillar had fallen and an entire Sector had been wiped out. Massacred because of Shinra wanted to get rid of them. Of her.

She couldn't help thinking that she was just as guilty as the people who blew up the support pillar.

And what of the rest of AVALANCHE? Of Jessie, Biggs, Wedge? Oh God, Wedge had been the worst. Even now she could feel the sick feeling of her stomach twisting and pulling as she watched him fall and fall and fall from who knows how many stories up. And then his eyes, those gentle, gentle eyes that used to dance with merriment whenever she had a new dish for him to try. They'd already been unseeing and glazed over with the look of impending death when they'd made it to his side.

Dead. They were all dead. Dead dead dead dead dead.

And maybe she really had died with them. Because try as she might, she couldn't revive the hope she'd always had.

She touched the cheek of the ghost that stared back at her and wondered why there were no tears. Why wouldn't she cry? Why _couldn't_ she?

A heavy knock on the door tore her eyes from that lifeless apparition momentarily before they strayed inevitably back to gaze at the phantom that was supposed to be her. Somewhere in her mind—the part that still retained some semblance of sanity—wondered how long she'd been in here.

"Teef? You been in there for over an hour now, baby girl. You okay?"

Oh. An hour. She wasn't sure if time she spent locked in the bathroom felt too long or too short for an hour.

"Tifa, if you don't open up right now, I _will_ bust down this damn door."

She almost smiled. Barret. She still had Barret. And Marlene. She had Marlene, thanks to Aeris though it was also Tifa's fault that the flower girl had been captured by the Turks. Another sin to add to her growing list. And Cloud? She wasn't sure if she really had him, but he was there for now.

She practiced smiling that smile she always managed to paste on when she felt less than wonderful—admittedly, that was often—before opening the door. "I'm okay Barret."

The big man frowned. He never did like that practiced smile of hers. But the years had seen that fake smile appear more and more often. "No, you're not."

"Barret, I'm fine."

The steel in her voice discouraged further conversation and after a moment of silent struggling, Barret nodded. She wasn't okay and she probably wouldn't be for a long time to come, but he could give her the time to try dealing with it her own way first.

"Be careful."

The small quirk of her lips was completely genuine this time. She lay a grateful hand on his forearm. "Thank you. I'll be back soon."

He nodded, the dual-layered meaning of her words not escaping him. Physically she'd be back for sure, he knew that. Mentally, emotionally…he really couldn't say. Tifa always went running when there was something troubling her and yes she always came back smiling, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if she'd lost a piece of herself every time she went out.

She looked at the clothes she was wearing and nearly grimaced. Elmyra, Aeris' mother, had been kind enough to lend her some of the clothes from Aeris' own closet and they fit fine and even felt comfortable against her skin, but something about it disturbed her. She ignored it momentarily as she went downstairs. They probably weren't the most efficient clothes to run in, but it would do for now. She just hoped that no one was downstairs to question her on the way out.

Of course, with her cursed luck, Cloud just had to be sitting at the breakfast nook right in her path. Clenching her jaw, she walked nonchalantly to the door. "I'll be back."

When Cloud didn't respond immediately, a part of Tifa cheered that she wouldn't have to face him right now. There was another part though, a part that was disappointed that he didn't care. Still, the relief was more overpowering and she almost breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the door.

"Where are you going?"

She almost kicked herself for celebrating too quickly. "Out," was her simple grounded out response.

"You can't."

Something about the way he said it, with such finality and authority and the assumption that she was some idiot who couldn't protect herself, struck a chord of resentment inside her. Who the hell did he really think he was?

"Yes I can and I am."

"It's too dangerous."

"I grew up in the slums. Don't you think for a second that I'm some helpless fool who doesn't know how to protect herself."

Despite herself, she couldn't help taking a step back when she saw the fire and determination flashing within his eyes. "I won't let you go."

"I'd like to see you try," she responded with a glare, this time refusing to back away from those unfairly powerful eyes. Because she was stubborn and she needed this so so _so _badly.

Before Cloud could say anything else, Barret's deep rumbling voice broke through the tension. "Let her go, Spiky." He nodded to her, his next words both a confirmation of her abilities as well as a warning for her to be careful. "Tifa knows what she's doing; she won't do anything stupid."

Thinking she'd finally won an argument with the ex-SOLDIER, she turned to the door and pulled it open. Just when she was about to walk out however, his words stopped her.

"I promised Biggs I'd protect you."

…

_Blood darkened his clothes and they could see that Biggs had been shot several times in the chest. But he still tried to hold himself upright against the railing of the staircase, his pride not letting him fall until his very last breath. He tried to smile. "You guys finally made it, huh?"_

_Cloud surprised her by being the one to speak. "Biggs, you're hurt."_

_The black-haired man would have laughed, but that would just hurt too much. "No shit. At least you remembered my name."_

_Tifa took a step forward and put her hand on his shaking arm. "Biggs…"_

"_Hey, don't look so down, Tifa. __I'm alright. I just need a break…." He turned scrutinizing eyes to Cloud. "This doesn't mean I trust you or anything, but would you…can you promise me to protect Tifa until I can do it myself? She's a smart girl, but sometimes she forgets about herself when she's taking care of everyone else. So could you? Just until I get better?"_

_Tifa shook her head, not knowing whether she should laugh or cry or smack Biggs for being an idiot or hugging him for being so considerate. She was saved a response when Cloud surprised her again with his voice that was so impossibly soft yet so undeniably clear even in the midst of all the gunfire. "I promise."_

_…  
_

She took in a deep breath. Something inside her broke and, more than ever, she just wanted to cry. But she'd never given in to the desire before so neither would she do so now. She knew it would hurt him. It hurt her too, but she couldn't stop the lie from pouring out.

"I don't need you to protect me."

…

_As stagnant as the air was in the slums, Tifa found it a welcome reprieve from the fetid stink of sewage water through which they'd just spent over half an hour navigating. Still, it wasn't as if she was taking the time to relish the waste-free scent of the air. They had to get to Sector Seven, and all the broken remnants of trashed cabooses laying strewn about the train graveyard were making it mighty difficult. _

_It was as if this was a maze and they were the mice to be trained._

_Tifa bowled over the monster in her way with extra vigor. How many of these stupid deenglows could there be? Not to mention the ghost-like wraiths that disappeared every now and then right in the middle of a fight. They did nothing to quench the burning urgency driving her to near insanity._

_She could see the pillar looming in the near distance and yet it was still so far. Too far. What if they can't make it in time? No, she shook the thought off angrily as she unleashed a hammer kick on a winged beast, crumpling it to the floor with the force of the blow. Cloud and Aeris trailed close behind her, and while both were also deeply concerned for the well-being of all the people who lived in the Sector Seven slums, something about the way Tifa charged ahead with unparalleled determination had them shying back in support positions._

_Half an hour in the sewers and another fifteen trying to get past the train graveyard. They were really going to be too late weren't they? Even if they made it to the pillar before Shinra did whatever they were going to do, what difference would it make? Would they really be able to stop them?_

_She felt the tears burning behind her eyelids but she refused to let them fall. Letting them show meant that there was no hope. And if nothing else, she refused to give up hope._

_She nearly landed a fist in Cloud's face out of pure reflex when he suddenly placed a firm hand on her shoulder from behind. Fortunately for the ex-SOLDIER, she managed to stop herself in time, but the motion had her off-balance and reaching for his shoulders to steady herself. Her breath caught when she suddenly found her nose pressed close to his neck. _

"_We'll get there."_

_His voice was all at once soothing and exciting in her ears and she held back a shiver. It simply wasn't right that he could affect her like this._

_Gathering her wits about her, she took a step back—only then noticing the hand that gently supported her lower back—and gave him a small smile, the best she could manage considering the circumstances. "Thank you."_

…

_Blink._

"_Why'd you have to be so stupidly heroic all the time?! You could have died!"_

_Blink._

"_You shouldn't have let them think it was you! It was my fault."_

_Blink._

"…_Why are you always saving me?"_

_Blink._

"_I'm sorry I'm always so much trouble for you, but thank you for saving me."_

…

_Something about the almost vulnerable—only "almost" because he knew she'd never let herself be completely so—timber in her voice and the glow in her eyes sparked a fountain of memories inside Cloud's head. Childhood memories, and while they had not under the happiest circumstances, he found a note of contentment in each one. But he thought it exceedingly strange that they would suddenly come back to him now. If these memories elicited such strong emotions from within his chest, why was it that it felt like he hadn't remembered them or even thought of them at all for so many years? Why did it all feel so unfamiliar?_

_The sudden rattle of a machine gun drew him from his thoughts. The three exchanged a startled look. It was coming from the pillar, but they were now essentially blocked in on all sides except for the direction they came from. He watched in surprise as Tifa stoically started walking back the other way._

"_What are you…" Aeris' question trailed off when Tifa suddenly turned around and kicked up a cloud of dust as she broke into a full-out run toward the wall of train cars blocking their way. A few feet from the nearest caboose, she took flight into a graceful roundhouse kick that lifted the junk car from the floor and sent it crashing into another caboose several yards away before it finally skidded to a stop._

_Tifa sprinted through the now-clear path toward the gun sounds. Cloud and Aeris glanced at each other with a look that denoted a feeling somewhere between amazement and reverent fear. God help whatever fool thought it'd be a good idea to get in her way. They took off after her without another second's hesitation._

_The sound of gunfire increased the closer they got, and suddenly a piercing scream ripped through the air as a body—one that looked disturbingly familiar—came tumbling like a rag doll down from the top of the pillar._

Oh God, oh God. Please don't let it be Wedge. Please don't let it be Wedge! _Tifa chanted in her head, all to no avail._

_The body landed with a sick thud, its landing sending up a cloud of dirt. Tifa didn't wait for the dust to settle to fall to her knees before it. Despite her prayers, it was Wedge, the blood seeping out from beneath his body and trickling out in rivers._

_He coughed, the sound wet and sticky and grating in her ears, while he tried to lift a hand. "T-Tifa. Barret. Help Barret."_

_Choking on her tears, she took his hand and cradled it. "Shh. I know. We'll help Barret. You take it easy. We'll get you fixed right up. You're going to be okay." Her eyes slid up to Aeris unbidden, hating to ask so much, but the older woman's mournful shake of her head crushed the sliver of hope she held deep inside. It really was too late for him._

_Wedge coughed again, blood gushing out of his mouth. "Too late—too late for me. H-help Barret. C-Cloud? We need Cloud."_

"_Cloud's right here, Wedge. We're all right here."_

_She turned pleading eyes on the ex-SOLDIER for the first time and he knelt down on one knee in response. His voice was quiet, but it was calming nonetheless. "I'm here."_

"_Cloud, you came. Good, good."_

_The corners of Wedge's lips turned up slightly and then just like that, he stopped breathing. His eyes were wide open with the unseeing stare of the dead and it took everything in her to hold the tears inside. She carefully rested Wedge's hands over his chest and gently closed his eyelids with her hand. He already felt cold and she held back a shudder._

_Time to mourn was a luxury they did not have, however. Another round of rattling gunshots pulled their attention back to the top of the pillar. Tifa's eyes narrowed and her fists clenched at her sides as she stood. Damn Shinra. Damn mako reactors. Damn them all! She won't let them take away all she held dear, not again._

_Her voice was steady and she felt strangely in control of her emotions. "Aeris, there's a bar here in Sector Seven called Seventh Heaven. There's a little girl named Marlene there." _

_The flower girl nodded. "Don't worry. I'll take her somewhere safe."_

"_Thank you."_

_She knew her words were not enough to convey her utter gratitude, but she had a war to fight. Looking up, she saw that Cloud was already waiting at the base of the stairs. As she ran side by side with him up the steps, the only thought in her mind was how she was going to make Shinra pay._

…

Tifa broke into a dead sprint the moment she closed the door behind her. She didn't know how long she ran or even where she'd gone. All she knew was that she felt so beautifully free every time she felt her lungs begin to burn and her thighs groan in resistance, every time her punches sent a monster flying, every time she felt the pearls of sweat roll down her face.

She needed this so badly.

Time passed quickly as she ran—who knows how long really—and she found herself finally able to breathe, able to fight the demons in her head once again. And she would continue fight because that was all she _could _do.

She looked down and saw the sweaty mess she'd made of Aeris' once pristine clothes. She knew now why she shouldn't be wearing her clothes. They were too pure, too innocent for her to wear. She was a woman of the slums, a symbol of everything she hated, and she should dress like one.

She stopped by a small clothing shop and found a black denim miniskirt and a form-fitting white cotton shirt that almost matched her bartending outfit exactly. She changed into them and after exchanging Aeris' soft leather boots—they would be too easy to rip when she landed a kick—for a pair of sturdy military-style boots, she carefully put Aeris' belongings into a bag.

She examined herself in the mirror. At one time, she would have hated the clothes she was wearing now. They were too revealing, too sensual and inviting for men to stare at. And to some measure, she still hated them. But compared to the almost angelic clothing Aeris had in her closet, this was who she was. She couldn't stand pretending even for a moment that she could ever be as representative of all that was good in the world as Aeris could. Tifa had grown up an urchin of the streets, a slut of the slums and no matter how false those images of her were, that was who she'd become.

And staring at her reflection now, she realized that this was all she knew how to be.


	10. Reflections on a Broken Soul

A/N: ....I'm somewhat disappointed I got so few reviews for the last chapter. I personally fairly liked the angst, but I guess it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, eh? No matter. These chapters have been coming out like crazy for me. It's not often I get an extended writing spell, so when I do, I take advantage of it. A big, big, _big_ thank you to those of you who _did_ review (e.g. **Seelenspiel **and **vx-Luna-xv**)as well as everyone else who has reviewed for past chapters (e.g **elebelly**,** Fairheartstrife, Biskitty, sam, xXxbrokenxXx, macalaniaprincess, Oceanee, Alialka, Kitsune13, Binkledup**). I'm rather terrible at getting back to people who review, so I figured I ought to get your recognition out there somehow.

Anyhow, this chapter is a bit dry because there's a lot of explaining going on, especially a more coherent version of what went on at the Pillar among other things. For those of you who were a little put-off by the guilt-ridden Tifa who was kicking herself into the ground last chapter, fear not. This will be her last appearance. Not to say she'll have fully recovered, but her optimistic self will be back--at least on the surface. Her emotional problems are far from over. ;)

I'll stop rambling now. Here's the next chapter. Read, enjoy, and leave a review! Thanks.

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Nine**

Cloud stared at the door for a long time after Tifa left wondering why it bothered him so much that she wouldn't let him protect her. Finally, he turned to Barret. "She's not okay." It wasn't a question.

Barret sighed deeply, for once not looking to get into an argument with the shorter man. "No, she's not."

"Then why'd you let her go out on her own? It's dangerous."

The big man growled. "Don't think I don't know or I don't care. That girl there…she and Marlene are the only family I got left, and we're the only family she's got. So don't you dare for a second question me like that. I only want what's best for her."

"What's best for her sure as hell isn't running out on her own when she's obviously not okay."

"Bullshit. You think you really know her cuz you knew her when you was kids? You don't _know_ her. You don't know that if she don't keep movin', keep workin' she'll literally go crazy. She's seen too much, been through too much to just stop in one place for too long. If I tried to stop her from goin', it'd only make those demons runnin' around in her pretty little head get stronger. Damn it, sometimes I really wish she couldn't fight so well so I'd have some reason to baby her, but the truth is she's saving my ass half the time."

Barret sighed, the lines around his eyes a little more pronounced and his broad shoulders sagged a little lower. "She's the strongest broken woman I've ever met but she's still broken. And if you don't see that and if you don't let her handle things her own way…maybe there's a small chance you'll get through to her, but there's an even bigger one that you'll break her completely. Trust me, I've tried and it nearly killed her. You push her too hard and she'll crumble."

Cloud pondered this for a moment before his mouth spoke without his permission. "I just want her to be safe."

"Don't we all?" Barret smirked, for once agreeing with the ex-SOLDIER on a topic. Then his humor faded to dead seriousness. "The safest thing for her is for you to not pry. We all got secrets and we all got a past, but hers'll kill her if you're not careful."

He was struck silent at Barret's words. For a long time, he stared at the mug of hot tea—though now it was more lukewarm than hot—that Elmyra had poured for him, and it barely registered in his senses when he heard Barret going back upstairs to care for Marlene.

He wondered why he'd reacted so harshly to her wanting to go out. He knew—he _knew_, after all he'd seen her fight—that she was more than capable of taking care of herself , but something deep in him had flared dangerously and all his years of precious self-control mocked him cheerfully on its way out. Even though she said she'd be back, even though he knew she could and would beat the crap out of anything standing in her way, even though she tried desperately to hide the hurt from showing in her eyes and masked it behind cold determinism…he couldn't help but feel like she was walking out of his life completely.

He wanted control and order over his life and right now, that control was quickly slipping out of his fingers.

Maybe it was the build-up of everything that happened so suddenly.

Last night had been utter hell, he reflected. By the time they'd gotten to the pillar, Wedge was dead, Biggs and Jessie were both severely injured (he tried to forget the fact that they both probably would have survived if they'd only been injured and the pillar hadn't fallen or vice versa but the combination of the two proved fatal).

It'd taken a long time to reach the top, with the occasional airborne robot getting in their way, and by the time they did, even _his_ legs burned from exertion. He would have wondered how Tifa was faring considering how arduous the climb was for even him, but the rattle of gunshots aimed at his head had him ducking into a roll, the pulse of mako-laced adrenaline filling his veins.

His katana blade was out with a flash of light and the sharp blade glinted in the floodlights, several regular Shinra troops easily dispatched before he was challenged by a Turk—judging by the immaculate suit she was wearing—though she proved to be little more than a nuisance. A new recruit, no doubt.

Two more Turks rushed at him in challenge, one carrying an axe-like weapon and the other a set of semi-automatic handguns. He moved fluidly between their attacks while quickly assessing their strengths. Axe had little finesse but his brute force had even Cloud reeling back on his heels when he blocked a side swipe straight on. Guns was obviously more of a support role, but was smart about when to distract him with a round of bullets to allow his companion an opening.

Suddenly, Tifa's angry voice broke through his concentration. "Damn it Reno, what the hell do you think you're doing? Stop the bomb!"

Cloud found himself wondering briefly—irrelevantly—how she knew the Turk. The very same one who'd been in Aeris' church he noticed.

"Sorry, sweet cheeks, but I'm just following orders."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her throw herself at Reno, her fists coming in a flurry—almost as if she'd been beserked—and in her fury, she'd only cried out once when Reno's EMR came crashing down on her forearm before she counterattacked and swept the Turk's feet from under him. Barret had also joined the fray apparently, and when he wasn't setting off his gun arm in bouts of raining bullets, he was fiddling with the computer unit sitting in the middle of the platform.

"Damn it! They got some kinda code to lock it. I can't disarm it!"

The whirring beats of a helicopter pulled their attention to the skies and suddenly all four Turks—Reno, the one Cloud had disabled and the two he'd been fighting—retreated and one by one jumped onto the ladder that had been unrolled from the chopper.

Barret cursed and let loose a round of shots at the chopper, but a deep, arrogant voice projected from the chopper's speakers stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. We wouldn't want to hurt our special guest, now would we?"

The three Avalanche members looked up in surprise to see a tall, well-kept Turk with long slicked back hair standing on the narrow platform outside the helicopter. What really caught their attention, however, was the girl in the soft pink dress—such a stark contrast with all the drab gray and blue and black of her surroundings—and long braided hair currently bowed down over her knees.

"Aeris!"

The flower girl looked up from her curled position and even then—even then!—a small smile graced her lips. "Don't worry, Tifa. She's safe."

Cloud felt a feral growl rumble deep in his chest when the Turk turned and slapped her soundly for speaking.

"What are you going to do with Aeris?"

The Turk smirked. "That is none of your concern, but don't worry. Aeris is the last of the Ancients. We won't harm her. Not that it really matters for you. Try to disarm the explosives if you like, but without the code, you're more likely to blow it up even faster." The chopper began pulling away. "Well then, I suppose we won't be seeing you again."

"God damn little bastards!" exploded Barret.

Cloud went to Tifa's side, the slightest hints of concern flashing within his hard eyes. He wanted to reach for her but his hands stayed stubbornly by his side.

"What do we do? What do we do now, Cloud?"

She stared at him with wild, lost eyes and he felt his stomach clench tightly. He knew that was only one viable option left and that was to find a way to escape themselves. Somehow he couldn't quite bring himself to tell her that truth though.

Thankfully, he was spared having to do so when Barret's bellow came through. "Tifa! Spiky! Over here!"

He was standing by the railing holding onto a thick cable that ran high into the darkness. It was dangerous as hell and if it was attached to the plate above Sector Seven they were dead anyway, but he supposed it was as good a chance as any.

Finding that Tifa was still in a state of shock, he unceremoniously picked her up—he knew there was something really wrong when she didn't protest at all—and ran with her to Barret. Once there, she seemed to comprehend that she needed to hold on for dear life because her grip on the cable was tight, so tight that he could almost see the white knuckles clenching under her leather gloves. He swung himself on the other side of Barret and then they jumped, the explosives going off one by one behind them.

Somehow they'd landed in the playground between Sectors Six and Seven—the same place he'd been with Aeris when he'd seen Tifa carried away in a chocobo carriage—and it was disconcerting to see that nothing but rubble now lay beyond the gate.

Barret had, predictably, exploded, unleashing several rounds of bullets into the broken concrete. Tifa had just been lost. Confused. But also strangely calm. Her panic from before had receded and all that was left was a strange kind of apathy almost as if she was sleep-walking. It made his skin tingle uncomfortably to see her like that.

Cloud hadn't paid much attention to Barret's tirade—he didn't want to feel his sorrow—until Tifa's clear voice suddenly rang out softly. "Marlene…I think Marlene is safe."

Barret whirled around to face her with a speed that belied his physical structure. "What?"

"Aeris…she said 'she's' safe. I think she was talking about Marlene. She must have gotten her out."

Cloud's jaw tightened. That's right. Aeris. He'd brought her into this mess; it was only fitting for him to bring her back out of it. Not really knowing what he was doing, his feet took him toward Sector Five, toward Aeris' home. He had to at least tell her mother what happened to her daughter. Vaguely, he heard Tifa's voice call out for him, but suddenly he couldn't move anymore, his legs crumpling beneath him and a piercing headache cut through his head.

…

_Blink._

"_The blood of the Ancients flow through me."_

_Blink._

"_You're a traitor. You're all traitors." _

_Blink._

"_It is my destiny to rule this planet."_

…

When he came to again, his head had been cradled in warmth, and despite the metallic smell of blood and musky sweat, the scent that ensconced him was comforting in its _realness_. He blinked his eyes open reluctantly to find himself staring back at a pair of worried wine eyes. He wondered how long he stared and there was a distant voice telling him he should look away, but it wasn't long before he felt her shift around him. It was only then that he realized his head was pillowed by Tifa's thighs and her dexterous gloveless hands were gently massaging his temples, the crown of his head, and back to his temples again. He was certain he'd never felt so relaxed before.

When she finally spoke, her voice came out little more than a whisper. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, his eyebrows knitting in a frown as the name tumbled out before he could think about it. "Sephiroth."

He immediately regretted his lack of motor control when he felt her muscles suddenly tighten around him and her hands stopped their ministrations. Her voice came out strangled. "What?"

He shook his head, finally willing himself to separate himself from her calming presence and stand. "I—nothing…Aeris' home isn't far from here."

The other two nodded, not needing him to finish his thought. It was their responsibility to tell her family what had happened to her.

And so they'd headed back to Sector Five, the journey back a quiet and tense one. But, instead of chastising them like they'd expected, Elmyra had been exceptionally kind and understanding. They realized she was where Aeris got all her own warmth and compassion.

To Barret's utter joy and relief, Marlene had also been there. To Tifa's utter guilt and remorse, Aeris had traded in her own freedom for the little girl's safety.

At Elmyra's insistence, they'd stayed the night there. Tifa had locked herself away in Aeris' bedroom, not speaking to anyone after they'd arrived other than to hug Marlene tightly and whisper into her hair that she'd been so scared. Cloud somehow knew that those words had been meant for the little girl's ears only, but she'd forgotten that his enhanced senses could pick up those little whispers. He wisely chose not to comment.

He himself hardly slept that night, thoughts about Ancients and Aeris and Sephiroth running wild in his head. When he asked Elmyra why Shina wanted Aeris so badly, the questions that emerged proved more numerous than the answers that were given.

Apparently, Aeris was not her biological daughter, but a girl she had adopted one day when she came upon her and her dying mother at the train station. A few years passed by peacefully until the Turks—Tseng, the one who had spoken to them from the helicopter—finally came knocking on their door and demanding that Aeris come back with them to the lab. For whatever reason, they'd never simply hauled her away against her will, at least not when she was home, but they were beginning to get desperate. Something about a Promised Land.

Though the mother and daughter both denied and pretended she was not different from any other little girl her age, it was painfully undeniable that Aeris was indeed the last of the Ancients and gifted with the unique powers that came with that heritage. Hence, why she could make flowers grow in the middle of the slums and heal without materia. What was it about Ancients that made them so valuable? That Shinra would stoop to the point of sending the Turks after her?

And then there was the matter of Sephiroth. Just how did he fit in as an Ancient if Aeris was supposed to be the last surviving one?

It didn't make sense, and the more he thought about it, the more he found that there were glaring gaps in his memory. More than he dared think about.

And so when Tifa came down this morning and seemed—for all intents and purposes, at least in his mind—intent on walking straight into danger, everything—all the confusion and tension and frustration—that had been building since last night, and probably before that, simply snapped. Because, for whatever inexplicable reason, he couldn't stand having her leave him again. Not after the last time he'd thought he'd lost her to the keen blade of a madman.

And something deeper still wondered why she'd suddenly become so important to him, why he couldn't bear the thought of failing her. Yes, he'd promised her before when they were younger and he'd also promised Biggs, but he knew this ran deeper—it disturbed him when he realized he couldn't even tell how deep it went.

His eyes hardened. What was he thinking? He didn't need to get involved any more than he already had. He would save Aeris, get her back home and then he was done with Avalanche, done with any childhood friend. He didn't need emotional attachments. They would only be a liability. He was a mercenary, damn it. He'd go where the price was highest.

And if she wanted to play cold and hide her emotions, well then he would show her what true indifference was.

He'd gotten along perfectly fine without her before and he would be fine without her now. Who cared if she was emotionally unstable right now? He didn't.

He also ignored the voice on his shoulder telling him that he was lying.

…

Tifa didn't know what to think after hearing Barret essentially tell Cloud to leave her alone. She hated the fact that he was treating her like some fragile doll that would shatter at the slightest pressure, even if there was a thread of truth to it. She just—she didn't need to be babied. She didn't _want_ to be babied. But she also knew he was looking out for her. In the years since coming to Midgar, Barret had been an older brother and almost a father to her. And while sometimes she couldn't stand his near smothering protective tendencies, they also made her smile.

It was nice to have someone care more for _her_ than whether or not bed her for the night. Bartending had not been her ideal career choice, but she was good at it and it was easy money, even if she had to endure night after night of lecherous eyes roaming her body. And sometimes, God she just wanted to—actually, she sometimes did—beat the living daylights out of some of the idiots who came to try their hand at getting in her pants.

But now…now with Sector Seven demolished, she realized she'd be willing trade another twenty years of that kind of life if it meant saving so many thousands of lives.

Shaking her head, she tried to shrug off the dark thoughts brewing dangerously in her head. Maybe she should go for another run she thought wryly.

With a deep breath, she pushed through the doors and found a pair of frighteningly sharp blue eyes automatically snap to her. Cloud was still sitting at the breakfast nook, his hands cradling a mug absent-mindedly. His eyes, showing only the slightly hints of surprise, took in her change of attire slowly. Yet, for all the intensity in his gaze, she knew that he wasn't doing it in a disrespectful manner like so many of the men who tried to undress her with their eyes. He was just examining her, making sure she wasn't injured.

And for a reason she hated, she felt almost giddy for his concern.

She fought the urge to squirm under his intense gaze, and in a deliberate act of defiance, she held her head a little higher and dared him to challenge her. But he didn't say anything and though neither did his gaze turn away, she thought he looked contemplative more than anything. She wasn't sure if she'd count that as a victory or a loss.

Refusing to allow him the privilege of asking questions first, she quickly spoke, "You're going after Aeris."

He watched her curiously, carefully, almost as if she would disappear right before his eyes if he looked away for even a second. Then he nodded, slowly. "Yes."

She also nodded in response. She'd figured as much. "I'm going with you."

His eyes immediately hardened and she prepared herself to argue why she should, but then the rigid glint in his eyes dissipated. Perhaps he'd finally realized that he would be insulting her to refuse her this. "We're going up against Shinra. You have to be prepared for the worst."

"I know. I just—I can't say here and do nothing. It'll drive me insane."

He nodded his understanding, but Tifa wondered how much he really understood.

Loud footsteps clamoring down the stairs announced Barret's presence. "I'm goin' too. I got a score to settle with them Shinra bastards. 'Sides," he turned slightly sheepish, an expression Cloud didn't expect to ever see on the ever beligerent, ever outspoken—to put it one way—man, "Marlene is safe because of that girl Aeris. I gotta do my part to bust her out."

Tifa nodded her agreement. "Shinra headquarters won't be hard to find once we're above the plate, but how do we get there? The trains aren't functioning anymore."

"Wall Market. There's a buncha lowlife hangin' around there all the time that might know a thing or two about gettin' up to the plate."

Elmyra joined them in the kitchen, her eyes concerned but unable to hide that inextinguishable spark of hope. Tifa wished she still had that hope herself, but she knew it'd be a long time before she could have that again, if ever. Still, she had no hope, but neither would she despair.

"You are going to find her?" asked the older woman.

Cloud was the one to respond. "Yes. We'll bring her back safely."

Elmyra smiled, the soft crinkle of her eye lending her that kind motherly look. "Thank you."

Tifa wondered why she would thank them when it was their fault Aeris got caught in the first place. When she caught the steady gaze of Aeris' mother looking her way, she struggled to not look away. She felt like Elmyra could see straight through any façade she may put up and it scared her. Indeed, it seemed like Elmyra really could read her thoughts when she went up beside her and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Tifa bit the inside of her cheeks to keep her eyes from watering. It was something her mother used to do before…Before.

The older woman smiled quietly. "It's not your fault. Shinra has been at our door for so many years; I think Aeris knew she was bound to get caught of these days. I'm sure she was happy that she could save that darling little girl when they finally did catch up with her."

Tifa forced herself to nod, but her guilt was screaming at her. _Then why did she feel like she'd just torn a family apart? _ _Was _that _really not her fault either? Could she ever truly make herself believe it?_

So out of sorts was she that she missed the last thing Elmyra said to Cloud before they all finally exited the door.

"That's a good girl you've got there. Take care of her now."

Neither did she hear it when Cloud muttered back a quiet "I will."


	11. Up and Up and Up

A/N: Back again. Summer school started a week ago and man, does it go by fast. I'm already behind on reading and pulled a quasi-all-nighter to finish a paper. Lovely. Thanks so much for the support last chapter! I'm trying to be more faithful in updating, but my inspiration tends to strike in waves. That's probably why I don't think I'll ever make it as a professional writer. Lol.

Anyhow, more humor, less guilt, and just a dash of mystery. Enjoy!!

* * *

**IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE**

**Chapter Ten**

It proved exceedingly uncomfortable for Cloud to once again step into the organized chaos that was Wall Market. Granted, it was probably quite natural considering the last time he was here, he'd been running around looking for cross-dressing items. He repressed a shiver of horror at the memory.

Tifa came up close behind him, sensing his quiet distress. "Are you okay?"

His jaw tightened as he tried to ignore the warmth emanating from her body. "I'm fine." He frowned when it came out too harsh and then added, "Don't exactly have the best memories here."

Hers brows knit in confusion for a moment before her eyes widened considerably. He almost wished he hadn't said anything when he saw the teasing grin spread across her lips, but he relaxed when he realized that he'd rather have her laugh at him than to go on brooding like she had since the night before. Brooding was _his_ job after all.

"I doubt this is any consolation, but you _were_ quite pretty."

He frowned at her. "I don't like being described as pretty."

She smirked. "But you were."

His frown turned into a glare, though it very nearly twisted into a small smile when Tifa broke into soft giggles. Something inside him forgot to be indignant when he saw the genuine laughter dance behind her claret eyes.

They went to the Honey Bee Inn first ("What were you doing _here_?" "You don't want to know." "…I'm sure.") to retrieve Cloud's gear, most importantly his sword, where he had left it upon infiltrating Don Corneo's mansion. The katana, useful and practical as it had been, was nowhere near as powerful as his Buster sword and it felt good to have his weapon of choice back in his hands.

"What now?" Barret grunted.

"We should go to the old man at the weapon shop. I remember he always sells a bunch of junk he picks up from around the area. I'm sure he'll know something."

Agreeing, they headed for the north end of Wall Market. Before they entered the weapon shop, however, a group of pubescent teenagers started an excited commotion as they ran out to the alley next to Don Corneo's mansion (Cloud's skin still crawled when he saw the building).

Glancing at each other briefly, they followed the kids into the alley.

"Jackpot…" murmured Tifa as she eyed the copper pipe that led up and up and up. It was dangerous and probably insane, but it was still a way to the top of the Plate, thin and unstable as it may be.

Cloud's eyebrows went up slightly. "Seriously?"

Barret let out a rumbling laugh, his glee a little too evident at having found a way up. "Why not? Don't tell me your spiky ass is scared of heights?"

"No, but we don't even know where that thing leads."

"Maybe not, but we _do_ know it goes up. An' that's good enough for me 'cause it looks like a shiny wire of hope to me."

The analogy (could it even be considered one?) was pretty bad, but Cloud supposed it was as good an opportunity as any. He glanced at Tifa who gave him a small, amused shrug, though the anticipation of a challenge sparkling in her eyes was impossible to miss. With a sigh, he conceded. "Alright, but I sure as hell am not going up behind Barret. I don't want to be in the way when he falls."

Barret growled his response, but Cloud ignored him as he wrapped his hands firmly around the pipe and hooked his ankles around it. It was going to be a long way up.

…

Rufus Shinra straightened out the invisible wrinkles in his immaculate white suit before pushing the doors open to his father's office. Despite himself, he was nervous. Their relationship in recent years had steadily grown distant and while Rufus could not condone much of what his father did to build his empire, he could still remember days when he had been a good man, a good father. And there would always be that part of him that just wanted to make his old man proud.

With a mental shake of his head, he hardened his eyes and schooled his expression into one of cold indifference. This was the façade he'd adopted when his father started drifting from noble intentions and this is the façade he will wear when he carries on the Shinra heritage. Fake, yes. But so was the legacy he represented.

He stopped several feet away from the imposing u-shaped desk, briefly wondering when the last time was that they'd stood closer than five feet from each other, aside from the necessity of proximity when conducting press conferences and cocktail parties. It didn't surprise him when he couldn't remember.

"You called for me, Father?"

The senior Shinra looked up from the thick stack of paperwork hiding his desk and Rufus was surprised to see the faintest hints of a fond smile playing at his lips. "Ah, Rufus. Yes, yes. Have a seat, son."

Rufus' skin pricked. Joseph Shinra rarely called him "son." Something was wrong; he could feel it in his bones.

Shinra eyed Rufus' hesitation, and his smile grew somewhat bitter and, if Rufus didn't know better, almost sad. "We haven't talked in a long time, have we?"

A fine brow went up as Rufus carefully responded, "No. We haven't."

"If nothing else, I—I am sorry I have not been a good father to you."

Rufus frowned. It sounded too much like Shinra was giving out last wishes or something foolishly ill-omened like that. "You have an empire to maintain. I…am but a small part of that."

Shinra stood up and walked around the desk to place heavy hands on Rufus' shoulders. "No, Rufus. I was blinded by power. I forgot the grounds on which this company was founded. And now it is too late."

"What…do you mean?"

For the briefest moment, Rufus could have sworn he saw regret flash within bright blue eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came, nothing but a fleeting phantom. "He is alive."

"Who is?"

"A boy whose presence is a constant reminder that my life is not my own."

The furrow of the lines on Rufus' forehead deepened. "You speak in riddles."

Shinra laughed, but it was empty and humorless. "Do I? Perhaps." He turned away and suddenly the warm, fatherly figure disappeared again and the ruthless businessman turned empire builder was back. "It is late."

Rufus trained his confusion to go away and he held his head high. That was his cue to leave. "Good night, Father."

Just before he stepped out the door, Shinra left him with one more piece of information to process. "I _am_ proud of you, son."

Not really knowing what to say in response, Rufus merely nodded and closed the door behind him. Even now, Joseph Shinra was a mystery to him.

…

Cloud could die a happy man if he never saw another step for the rest of his life. He gave up trying to keep track of how many flights they'd already climbed in the seemingly perpetual onslaught of stairs that made the Shinra tower the tallest building in the world, and focused his attention instead on controlling his breathing and the constant pump of his legs as he ran. While this was far from the most rigorous challenge he'd ever encountered, it certainly neared the top of his list of the most tedious ones. He glanced back, noting with some surprise that Tifa was only about half a flight behind him and Barret probably another flight behind her. He couldn't see where the big man was, but he could sure hear his complaints drifting up and echoing off the walls of the stairwell.

(Cloud thought he heard him mumbling to himself something about how he wanted to at least see Marlene one last time before he died from running up stairs, but he really couldn't be sure.)

Not for the first time, he thanked the arrogance (or maybe oversight) of Shinra that they didn't plant cameras in the emergency escape. Thanks to a code scrambler (a piece of technology that Jessie in her brilliance had developed, Tifa explained in a low and sorrowful tone edged with bitterness) that deactivated the alarm system long enough for them to slip into the building, they had been able to infiltrate Shinra headquarters without making a ruckus, at least for now.

Barret was still disgruntled that they hadn't simply broken in through the front doors, but had reluctantly ceded to the wisdom of not creating such commotion until they successfully rescued Aeris.

Though…as he looked up to find no visible end to the stairs, Cloud was almost inclined to think that maybe going through the front doors wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Are we there yet?" Barret's voice floated up to his ears.

"Not yet," was Tifa's ground out response.

There were a couple minutes of silence before "Are we there now?"

"No! And we're not going to be there in another two minutes either!"

Cloud almost chuckled to himself. He had to admit that an annoyed Tifa, rare as it was, proved to be highly amusing. It made their interaction more human, more _normal_. And for a reason he has yet to fully comprehend, normal human interaction meant a lot to him.

…

_Blink._

Normal? What does it mean to be normal?

_Blink._

What would _you_ know about being normal?

_Blink._

You've never been – never will be normal.

_Blink._

"_I always knew I was different, but _this? _No...Not like this."_

…

"We're here." His voice was level, and Tifa and Barret could only stare at him in awe. Both of them heaving heavy breaths and trying to pull as much oxygen from the air as possible after running up the full fifty-nine flights of stairs. Yet, there he was, Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary, standing casually next to the door as if he'd just come back from a pleasant stroll.

"Damn. What the hell did they do to you people? Are you SOLDIERS even human anymore?" gasped out Barret when he'd regained enough of his breath to speak in relatively comprehensible sentences again.

Tifa could have almost sworn that she'd seen the man in question flinch ever so slightly at the comment, but it was quite nearly impossible to tell with him. She changed the subject to the situation at hand. "What do we do now?"

"Every floor from the sixtieth and above is restricted to certain personnel only. We'll need to get keycards to get any higher. That's probably where they have Aeris."

"You sure know a lot about this place," commented Barret, a suspicious lilt in his voice.

"I used to report here for duty back when I was in SOLDIER." His tone was bored and flippant, making it extremely clear that he wasn't compelled to explain himself to the big man, but only did so to get him off his case.

Barret grunted in response. "An' how exactly are we suppos'ta getta hold of these keycards? You make it sound like we can jus' walk up to somebody n' expect 'em to hand it to us no questions asked."

Cloud shrugged, but three floors up saw Barret elevated into prophet-status.

Obtaining the keycard to gain access to the sixtieth floor had been as simple as knocking out the handful of guards stationed by the glass elevators and making it to the sixty-first floor had been even easier. It was all a matter of manipulating the surroundings to one's benefit as they snuck past the roaming security guards, and the door to the set of stairs threading the floors above the sixtieth had been fortuitously unlocked.

Much to Tifa's amusement, acquiring the keycard to unlimited access above the sixty-second floor was as easy as Barret had scoffed. That and the fact that Cloud was apparently too attractive to deny.

The sixty-first floor was something of an employee lounge where Shinra's army of pencil pushers weary of every dreary nine-to-five day roamed the halls, most of them seeking out the smoking rooms to relieve the stress of their monotonous lives.

They'd automatically decided that Barret needed to wait in the stairwell, his gun-arm too much of a giveaway, and while Tifa appeared nonthreatening enough, her choice of apparel didn't mesh well with the formal business-wear everyone else was in. Thus it left Cloud—on the pretense of being a repairman—to try to procure a keycard. And so it was that Cloud suddenly found himself eyed at hungrily by one of those utterly bored, middle-aged female employees that he'd stumbled across.

He swallowed the uncomfortable feeling in his throat and mumbled his spiel about needing access to the floors above to do his repairs, all the while wondering if the woman heard anything considering she seemed preoccupied drooling at the hard muscles of his exposed arms and tracing the lines to where, regrettably, his sleeveless top hid the rest of his torso from her wandering eyes.

The woman nodded noncommittally before unclipping the keycard from her jacket. "I see," she drawled while slipping the card into Cloud's pant pocket. Cloud stiffened when her hand lingered there far too long for his comfort and it took much of his self-control to refrain from squeaking when she pinched the tight flesh of his bottom. "So will you be free after you get your repairs done? 'cause I think I'm going to be free a while."

Her eyes spoke lust as she let her hand trail across his chest in what was supposed to be a seductive manner. Cloud shuddered with disgust; he just wanted to get out of there. "Uh…maybe later," he muttered before all but running back to the stairwell where Tifa and Barret hid.

By the time he made it back to them, he'd managed to get the shaking down to a minimum but he couldn't completely expel the feeling that he'd just been grossly violated. When he saw the sparkling laughter dancing in Tifa's eyes, he knew that she'd seen everything.

Eyes completely serious, Cloud stated blandly, "I think I've just been molested."

Tifa broke out in giggles and even Barret had to cough to hide his snicker before saying, "At least you got the keycard. Way to take one for the team, Spiky."

Cloud glared at him, but Barret had already turned to go up the stairs. Making to follow him, he froze when he felt Tifa's hot breath suddenly sear the sensitive flesh behind his ear, the heat of her body pulsing beside him, warming him even though they weren't quite touching. "So, will you be free after you get your repairs done? 'cause I think I'm going to be free for a while."

She was teasing him for the incident with the Shinra employee, he knew, but his reaction to her nearness was not funny in the least. His mouth dried when her lips got close enough to his neck that he only needed to shift ever so slightly for her lips to caress the tingling flesh over his pulse point. His fingers itched to tangle themselves in the silky length of hair that was currently tickling the bare skin of his arm even as he curled his hands into tight fists to keep from doing just that.

She pulled back with a sudden laugh, though he could hear the forceful edge to it, almost as if she'd also just realized she'd done and was trying to cover her awkwardness with by brushing it aside with sheepish laughter. It was probably exactly what she was doing actually. "Sorry. I just—" Her pale face erupted in a bloom of cherry blossoms. "Sorry."

With another nervous chuckle and an embarrassed apologetic look, she ascended the stairs—more damn stairs—and left him to his thoughts. When he began climbing after her, he noticed that his limbs were shaking again. Only this time, it was for a completely different reason. He couldn't decide if it scared him or thrilled him more.

…

_I am an idiot. A stupid stupid _stupid_ idiot! _

Tifa didn't know what had possessed her to do something so, so—she didn't even know what to call it other than will-never-be-able-to-look-him-in-the-eye-again stupidity—but she was certainly feeling the part of a fool now. She'd found that Cloud was irresistibly adorable when embarrassed and that light sheen of red that had painted his cheeks made him look so much younger, so much more like the little boy she'd once known that she'd wanted to keep it there for just a little longer. And the only way she could think of doing that at the time was to tease him.

She hadn't meant to tease him quite like _that_ though.

Face flaming, she cast her eyes to the steps in front of her when the unsettling memory of Cloud's slight shuddering and suddenly hitched breathing raced to the front of her head, the image so vivid that it was almost as if she were seeing it played before her very eyes again. And again.

Tifa Lockhart was no fool. She knew that she was attractive—as was confirmed by the number of Seventh Heaven customers she'd had to _strongly_ discourage from touching her—and she knew what it meant when a man started displaying the same symptoms that Cloud did at first. Perhaps on one level she was gratified to know that she could affect him—yes, even him—in such a way, but the far larger, more principled part of her resented herself for eliciting his lust when what she really wanted his respect.

_Great job, Tifa, acting like the tramp that he probably thinks you are,_ she thought bitterly to herself.

She chanced a glance back at Cloud who looked like he'd fully reverted to his cold-blooded ways. Well, at least he was mature enough to let the incident go graciously.

Feeling like a walking pile of contradictions, she absolutely refused to wonder why she felt so disappointed by that.

* * *

Thank you to: **Alialka**, vx-Luna-xv, **Fairheartstrife**, Binkledup, **Biskitty**, SrgntDrew, **Seelenspiel**, mom calling

Sorry about being awful about getting around to reviewer responses. I just want you all to know that I really do appreciate your taking the time to review though! Thanks for all your input, whether it be praise, constructive criticism or anything else. It makes me a better writer knowing what I do well and what I don't do so well. :)


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